True Destiny in the Stars
by Nyank0
Summary: After an incredible revelation that has changed their lives, the three Starlights decide to return to Earth, to find more about themselves, to defend their galaxy, and to find love...
1. Revelation

TRUE DESTINY IN THE STARS

CHAPTER 1: REVELATION

_Earth_

' "Nee Mamo-chan… Do you love me?"

"Yes"

"Really?"

"Yes"

"Like how?"

"Why so suddenly?"

"Please… like how?"

"Let´s see… it feels wonderful to be with you" '

Usagi´s life after that moment had been pretty much the same as before, only completely calm and peaceful. They had all continued studying and being normal 17-year-old girls. Sometimes the senshi and her talked about this new state of peace that the Earth appeared to be through, and thought that maybe by defeating Chaos all the evil had ended. That would mean that the utopic future which was waiting for them was soon to be happening. The era of Crystal Tokyo should not be far from starting.

These thoughts were in Usagi´s head more often than she admitted, but something had changed since the end of their last battle… she no longer felt that hysterical anxiety to marry Mamoru and be her princess, she did not long for the moment when she was to become queen of Earth in her crystal palace to share her life with him for eternity. No, she longed for something else… for someone else… but she had forbidden herself to let her heart think about it.

She had known Mamoru, her Mamo-chan, for what it appeared to be more than a lifetime… she knew he had a disciplined, formal and serious nature, he always acted correctly in all situations, and he was smart and elegant. The perfect definition of a king. He was nevertheless so different to her… she had matured indeed, especially after the last battle and all that they had been through, but she still considered herself as a joyful teen who loved eating, sleeping, who was a little clumsy and a crybaby. But that was the way she was, and that was the way she enjoyed life.

She loved going to the amusement park, hanging out with friends, eating all sorts of candy, joking and acting spontaneously. Most of all, she loved being loved, being attended and taken care of, as all boyfriends should treat her girlfriends, she thought. But Mamoru was not like that. 'He´s just so correct and well-educated' Usagi thought to herself. 'He loves me as much as I love him, he just shows it differently… I cannot expect him to act as effusively as I always do, it will not be like him'.

These thoughts had always been with her, right from the start of her relationship with Mamoru. His way to love her had always been enough for her, because she loved him so much and she knew he was the quiet, educated and elegant type of guy. But mainly, because she had not known anything else. It had been like this until last year… until the Starlights came into her life and literally lightened it up.

She experienced so many things with them… hardship, indeed, but as the always optimistic Usagi, she only remembered the good parts: they had shown her loyalty, confidence in one another, the value of friendship, the power to never give up and have faith, but most of all… they had shown her true love.

"Seiya…" Usagi mumbled after switching off the light in her room before going to bed, when she was caught, another night, by the sparkling of the stars through her window. She always slept with her window uncovered now, because she loved so much watching the stars. She watched them until she fell asleep every night since he left. And she couldn´t help thinking about him. She felt really bad, because she loved her boyfriend and knew it was wrong, but her heart just went its own way when she was alone.

Seiya had opened her eyes. She had seen now what true love meant when it was shared with the correct person. He was so much fun, teasing her around, sharing with her the activities she loved most, in fact, being herself around him, enjoying it so much and most importantly not feeling ashamed of it. Life with him had the sparkle of a star. He had loved her so much, she knew now. Always the best friend, the most loyal, being there for her every time she needed him, without asking why, risking even his life, giving it all for her, for her happiness. Always showing and telling her how he felt for her.

And now that she had tasted that, something in her relationship with Mamoru had changed. First thing after the battle, that conversation under the moon, which she had repeated in her head tons of times. She had needed reassurance. For the first time, she needed to hear from him that he loved her, and ask him how much. She was disappointed by the answer, she expected so much after all the time they had been apart from one another, after he had been dead and she had fought so hard. And the only thing she got was a weak conversation which she felt he was uncomfortable at having, where he just nodded to all she said. There were no true feelings there. Any of the previous days with Seiya had been more intense and romantic than this moment. And then the kiss. Why were the butterflies missing? Why was it all correct, what it was supposed to be, a perfect couple from the outside, but she was feeling like this?

Usagi shook her head and leaned back in her bed. She had to forget these thoughts, she had to stop thinking about him. She was to be the new queen of Earth, and she had her king which she loved more than anything. All was perfect between them, and their perfect future was around the corner to be accomplished. It was her destiny, and it was all in her hands! A shy tear slid from her eye and wetted the pillow, while she fell asleep looking at the stars and murmured once more: "Seiya, I miss you".

_Kinmoku_

Seiya was not himself anymore after they had all returned from Earth a year ago. A lot had been going on in Kinmoku since, because they had left a devastated planet and now that the menace was gone and the queen had returned, it all needed to be rebuilt and the three Starlights were a key part in doing this, what had kept them really busy. Now that everything was running smoothly and he had more time for himself, his mood had been going lower and lower.

As much as he had tried, he had not been able to stop thinking about her, about her Odango. He loved her so much… he knew deep inside that this was his love of a life, that he would not love any other than her for all time. But because he loved her that way, he had had to leave. Leave her with her boyfriend, her life and her overwhelming future.

If only he had met her earlier… before that other guy had appeared in her life… no, but that was not possible, she is the princess of the Moon, she always had been and she will always be. There is no changing that. Her fate is written in stone. Why is love so cruel? He just loved the girl, the sweet, caring, happy little Odango. And the time and space that had separated them had only made his love for her grow. His heart only longed to return and see her again but his loyalty to his queen and his duty as senshi held him back from rushing back to Earth, even if it was only to see her once more.

Kakuuyu knew how Seiya felt. She had known from the moment she saw how he acted around Sailor Moon, the way he looked at her, how much he cared. They even talked a little about it after their return, but Seiya had convinced her that he was going to get over it and continue with his flawless duty, and that those feelings will not in any way interfere. This never came true, she could feel how heartbroken and miserable he was, and how it was getting worse every day instead of healing. This current situation had made her think a lot for the last few weeks, and she came to the conclusion that it was about time to tell her Starlights all about them and the decision that with so much effort she had made, which was going to change their future.

"Seiya…. Oi, Seiya!" Yaten yelled. Seiya was in his room lost in his thoughts, which was quite usual lately and was starting to piss off Yaten very much.

"Huh?" he answered.

"Seiya, the queen has called us three for a meeting in about an hour" Yaten answered. "Taiki will be joining us there in a while, get ready"

"What for?" Seiya asked.

"I don´t know, but it looks strange. She never calls us this official and this sudden. I am a little bit worried that something is happening, I would not be able to cope with all of this over again." Yaten was really stricken by the battle with Chaos. Being the most unexperienced in battle of the three of them, that episode of their lives had taken him way over his limit. He was a calm spirit who just loved peace and quiet; battles were not like him at all.

"Oh ok. Give me ten minutes and I´ll join you there."

"Seiya… since it´s so official, would you mind transforming for the meeting? I think that it should be more appropriate to attend it as senshi" Yaten suggested.

Seiya hardly ever transformed now. He was more unconfortable every day with changing into a woman. At first, when he became a Starlight, he did not mind. He understood that senshis can only be women, and for some reason that no one had been able to explain, the three Starlights had been awakened in men, and therefore that meant that transformation implied changing sex for fighting. Since it was his duty to defend his planet and his princess, he gladly accepted this fact for everyone´s sake. But his feelings now had changed. His love for Usagi grew in his body, making feel uneasy with himself when he had to transform into a woman, as if his soul was living in a mistaken body, like if that was not really him.

"Yes, I will. Don´t worry, Yaten. Just give me a few minutes" he answered.

"Ok, I´ll wait for you there, but don´t be late…"

Seiya glanced once more through the window and into the stars, thinking about her, sending her a message "Odango, I miss you. I love you." After that, he transformed into Sailor Star Fighter, frowned at now her image in the mirror and left the room heading to the meeting.

A while later, Sailor Star Fighter, Healer and Maker presented themselves to princes Kakuuyu in her meeting room. They were quite nervous about what they were going to hear. The worst thing about not knowing what the meeting was going to be about was that they had been making up stories in their heads, which were not necessarily pleasant. None of them were ready yet for another fight.

"My dear Starlights, please sit. And relax, nothing is wrong" Kakuuyu said with a soothing voice.

"Then why do you want to meet us this formally?" Maker asked, as curious as always.

"Well, I… I am not sure how to start with this. I have so many important things I need to explain to you that maybe I should have explained earlier… it is just that the way things happened so fast, we did not have any other choice but to do it like this. And now I am afraid that you may change your opinion about me, and feel I have somewhat betrayed you." Kakuuyu was now trembling slightly, and tears were forming in her crimson eyes, which she was trying to hold back.

"Princess!" Yaten said with worry "Anything you could tell us will make us love you any less, please don´t suffer anymore, we just want your wellbeing and will protect you and help you with anything as we always have"

Kakuuyu smiled slightly at her always so faithful Star Healer. "Yes, Healer, I know, thank you so much. The issue is that this that I have to tell you is going to change a lot of things, parts of your life you supposed were one way which really are not, and perhaps also your future. It was meant to happen sooner or later, it is just that I wish nothing would have never changed… I miss so much the good days in Kinmoku with you, before the war started…"

All three Starlights remained silent, waiting for what she had to tell them. Seiya was starting to feel a strange sensation inside him. Something like excitement, anticipation, will.

"As you know, it has not been that long since the new era of Crimson Kinmoku started, when I was made queen and ruler of this planet and our whole solar system" Kakuuyu continued "Shortly after that, the menace of Chaos was detected coming to take us down, leaving us with hardly any time to react, or for me to develop my powers and become capable of defending our people. As you know, for each solar system in our galaxy there is a main planet with a ruler, and a senshi for each of the other planets that belong to it, which are due to fight beside the queen to protect their kingdom. In our case, our system is made of 5 planets, being Kinmoku the only one inhabited now, where me, the princess, is to form the system´s kingdom. The other four planets: Karinei, Sinkara, Monokii and Aekania are inhabited now but were previously beautiful realms ruled by the senshi families. When the war started, I should have been helped by the senshi of each of these planets, but since I had awakened as queen so shortly before Chaos attacked, I did not have the power yet to awaken them. That is why when I desperately requested help from outside, you three were sent to me from the stars, to temporarily act as my senshi."

By this moment of the speech, the three Starlights were totally in shock. Eyes wide and even mouths half open, they did not know what to think. Everything they had known was not exactly true, they didn´t even know what to say.

"So… are you saying that we are not really Your senshi? Crimson Kinmoku´s warriors? Our solar system´s defenders? Maker found her words.

"Yes, that could be a very brief summary, Maker." Kakuuyu said, looking down. "I am really sorry for not telling you from the start… everything was such a rush, and war started so soon, that I never found the occasion. I was feeling so good with you three around… I felt loved, cared for, protected…"

"But, what are we then?" Fighter said, speaking for the first time "Where do we belong?"

"You belong to the stars, my dear Star Fighter, you always have". Kakuuyu said, almost crying. Then she got a hold of herself and continued "I do not know that much myself, but I can tell you that there is a Kingdom of Stars that rules over all the other kingdoms of the solar systems in this galaxy, which watches over them and keeps peace. They have their own senshi to protect the entire galaxy, and you are three of them. This kingdom is also awakening now, as all of them are, and you three were sent here by them, to help us and try to stop Chaos when he started his plans of conquering the galaxy, since we did not have any other means of protection. I am a very weak queen. I will never forgive myself for not being able to defend my own planet as…" she hesitated for a moment "as Sailor Moon did".

Seiya trembled at the mention of her name. So many memories…

"Now I am stronger. Thanks to you I am now the queen I should have been a year ago. I can defend my people and also, I am now ready to awake my planet senshis. They will help me with my duty of protecting our solar system." Kakuuyu looked them into the eyes, gratitude filling them. "What I am trying to tell you with this, is that you are free now. You do not have anything that binds you here anymore. Your mission is more than fulfilled; you have given me more than I ever dreamed of. I only wish my senshi to be just as incredible as you have been. You even crossed the entire galaxy to look for me! You are senshis of the galaxy and your duty is to protect it, but you can do this from any point of the galaxy you desire". She said this last sentence looking directly to Seiya, and she added "Seiya, I know your heart is no longer here. You left it back at Earth when we returned… don´t feel guilty anymore for your feelings, just go and return to her". It was the first time that Kakuuyu had called him Seiya, his name on Earth.

Kakuuyu´s tears were now freely falling from her eyes and covering all her face. Fighter was so stunned, her head was spinning like crazy with all the new information, and an overwhelming heat was growing inside her body, starting in her chest, so strong that she thought she was going to burst into a thousand fireworks. She was crying silently and she hadn´t even noticed when it had started. It was the greatest joy of all just to think that she could get to see Usagi again, but it was also the most painful of sorrows to feel the suffering of the lady which had been her princess for as long as she had known…

"Princess!" Healer yelled, stood up and ran to Kakuuyu, embracing her in a tight hug. "No matter what anyone says, you will always be our princess!" She cried.

Kakuuyu smiled slightly, while she enjoyed Healer´s warm hug. She had a knot in her throat and she couldn´t even answer.

Maker was so serious, her face so plain that it was impossible to tell what was going through her mind. Suddenly she just said "That was very revealing, it changes many things. I need to think about it." And with this, she stood up and she turned to leave.

Healer heard this, and quickly broke the embrace with the princes and shouted at Maker. "Maker! What are you saying? This is our princess we have here in front of us! We will always be her loyal senshi, we will devote our lives to her!"

"That is not exactly true, as it appears to be now, is it?" Maker responded calmly, her back still to them. She started walking to the door. Fighter was still in shock, watching her sisters, unable to move or say anything.

"Maker I don´t believe what I´m hearing! You are denying your princess? Stop! Where are you going?" Healer was shouting more and more.

"I said I needed to think about it". And with this, she left.

Kakuuyu, which was standing in the middle of the room, sobbing slightly while her two former senshi argued so hard, said in a very low voice "Actually I think that is a very good idea. You should all think calmly about it. I shall leave you alone now, so you can see things clearly. If you need anything, or want to ask me something else, I will be in my rooms, really glad to attend you and answer to all the issues I can." She turned and left the opposite direction.

"Princess…" Healer extended her hand as if trying to reach her and did not move until she saw her leave the room and close the door behind her. She was red with anger and all the crying. She turned to Fighter and said "See?! This is all your fault, you know?! If you were not your selfish-self and had acted more like a senshi and less like a heartbroken teenager all the time, this wouldn´t have happened! We could have lived all our lives happily with her, as always!"

This was the last thing Fighter needed to hear, she was already feeling terribly guilty, as if somehow her acts had triggered all this. She was so confused she just wanted to disappear.

Suddenly, she stood up and ran out of the room, leaving Healer alone, crying and yelling.


	2. Confession

***Author´s note: Hello all! Just wanted to say thank you for reading my story (which is my first fanfiction attempt) and for reviews, which I appreciate very much. I hope you like it.***

*** Disclaimer: Of course, I do not own Sailor Moon, the story or any of its characters.***

CHAPTER 2: Confession

_Earth_

Another school day was over and Usagi was walking home, excited because today at last she had a date with Mamoru. He had been really busy these last months. He had started university and was studying laws, which he said that sure will serve him when he became king. He hardly ever had time for Usagi now, so she treasured every moment he dedicated to her.

As soon as she arrived home, she called him.

"Hello?"

"Hi Mamo-chan! This is your princess! (giggles) I was just calling to confirm our date at the café in an hour!"

"Yes, Usa-ko, for the hundredth time, yes. I´ll see you there, just please don´t repeatedly call me because I am trying to read a very important document right now. See you there".

"Okay my love!" She said, but he had already hung up "Just wanted to make sure you were not late as usual, or that you even showed up…" she said to herself, a little sad.

Mamoru was only ten minutes late this time. Usagi was sitting with an ice-cream which she didn´t resist ordering while she waited for him. She jumped of her chair and into his arms when she saw him coming.

"Ma-mo-chan! I´ve missed you!"

"Yes, Usa-ko, me too, but please do not cling to my neck like this, in the middle of the street…"

"Oh, sorry, sorry… I was just so happy to see you! Let´s sit and have something to eat and you can tell me all about the document you are reading and how was your week!"

"Mhmm, well, you know. Busy as always, I am reading lots of very interesting volumes for this report I have to present"

"Oh! About what?"

"About laws. That´s what I am studying."

"Yeah, but about what in particular?"

"Well… It´s… really, you would not understand, how about you just talk me about your week?"

And with this, Usagi, slightly disappointed, started telling Mamoru everything about what she had done, eaten, about her friends, about what they had done, where they had gone… while he just nodded from time to time, absent-mindedly sipping his ice tea.

After the date, he walked her home and gave her a sweet kiss before saying goodbye. It was a couple´s kind of kiss, their lips rubbing softly for several moments while they held hands, and then slowly separating their faces to look into each other´s eyes. From the outside, they were the perfect couple.

'Then where are the butterflies?' She thought to herself. 'Why am I not feeling as excited as a child when he kisses me? Why is my heart not racing as before, when just by seeing him I thought it was going to jump running out of my chest? And why do I always feel as if he dates me because he has to more than because he wants to?'

She walked up to her room and saw the photo of them, with Chibiusa. 'Am I doing the same? Am I dating him just because it is what I am supposed to do?' Just thinking about it made her shiver and her eyes watered. She was really scared about this thought, but the last months it was growing bigger and bigger. When was the last time she had really had fun with Mamoru? Had they laughed together? Had she been so happy to know she was going to see him, anticipating the moment with real anxiety? Had it been like that at all with him anytime? She could not remember. She did remember though when she had been feeling like this, although… it was not with Mamoru but with… Seiya.

She shook her head. There it was again! She had to stop this. She had to find something else to do to keep her head busy. She picked up the phone and dialled.

"Hellooooo?" There it was. Minako, always ready to talk.

"Hi, Minako-chan! It´s me! I just arrived home and I was wondering if you wanted to hang out for a while before dinner"

"Heee… have you done homework yet? Oh well never mind, I have tried to and it is absolutely impossible! I don´t understand a thing! I think maybe we should ask Ami-chan tomorrow to explain it to us because I am totally lost! By the way… didn´t you have a date with Mamoru-san today? Is it because of that you are calling? You want to talk?"

"No, uhm, well…" Usagi tried to answer… Minako was talking so much she didn´t even find the occasion.

"Ahh! See? This is your very perceptive senshi of Love always here to help you with couple issues! Although I am not being that lucky myself with couples…that doesn´t say much about me, does it?…"

"Minako! Wanna meet then?"

"Ah, yes of course! I´ll be at your house in about half an hour, be ready!" And she hung up.

Both girls went for a walk around the park, bought some candies and sat on a bench to talk a while. Minako was telling Usagi about this new singer she loved so much which was now debuting and how she was crazy about getting tickets to the concert.

"You could come along with me! It sure will be fun! He´s a very good singer, not as good as the Starlights, of course but…" She stopped, her face white. All of the girls had avoided mentioning the Starlights since they left. They all knew that something was going on between Seiya and Usagi when they were around. Something serious. They had seen it in first person. They were all fully aware of how much Seiya loved their friend, and they saw something more than friendship towards him in Usagi, although she never admitted it and was always loyal to Mamoru. Minako had seen a change in Usagi since the Starlights left, she was lonelier now and not her happy self, and she could easily tell that she missed him.

"Sorry, I did not mean to mention…"

"Nee Minako, can I talk with you about something, just between you and me?" Usagi ventured to ask. She was very afraid of saying this out loud, but it was devouring her inside, growing every day and she could not handle it alone anymore. On the other hand, she knew that Minako was more open-minded about this, and that she was the only one that could perhaps understand her.

"You still miss him, do you" Minako said plainly

Usagi was shocked. She looked at her friend as if an alien had just landed on top of her head.

"Wha…How… How did you know? Oh my god, is it that obvious?" Usagi stuttered

"No, well, it is for me but don´t worry… it´s just that I know you very good, and have been at your side all this time, and saw what happened". Minako answered.

"I feel so guilty Minako-chan… as if I was being unfaithful to Mamo-chan just thinking about… him". She still regretted to say his name, as if like by not mentioning him, it was not real.

"Usagi-chan… you know I will always be at your side, no matter what. You know that. But I have to tell you that you have nothing to be ashamed of. You have always been loyal to your boyfriend, even when he did not answer you for such a long time, you know, not his fault or anything because he was dead at the time, but you know what I mean…you have always loved and respected Mamoru-san."

"Yes, but… why if I love him so much can´t I stop thinking about my time with… with Seiya?" Finally she said it out loud. This made tears come out of her eyes. "I am feeling so bad inside because I am thinking about another man when I am supposed to be all excited about my future with My man!" She cried.

"Usagi-chan, please don´t cry" Minako said, gently wiping the tears on Usagi´s face with her fingers. "As your friend, which I am on top of anything else, I just want you to be happy. You have not done anything wrong and it is normal for you to miss someone with who you shared so many things, and which was always so nice and sweet with you…"

Usagi calmed a little, and looked at her friend while she nodded. "Yes, I know. It is just that…I´m worried that… now, after they left I mean, I realized all he had been doing for me, and that he really cared for me. And I am feeling… I am feeling more towards him. More than…than I should, more than just a friendship perhaps, you know?"

Minako smiled. She had known the way Usagi felt before she knew herself.

"It´s just that… I was more ME around him." Usagi continued "Like it was always fun and I could feel happy and relaxed and not trying to be someone else all the time".

"And that is happening to you when you are around Mamoru-san?" She asked, and Usagi timidly nodded. "I see…"

"But do not tell anyone!" Usagi was nervous now realizing what she had confessed. She couldn´t believe hearing these words coming out of herself. "It´s just temporary, I mean, Mamo-chan is so busy lately with university and all that my stupid teen stuff is just unfocusing him from what he has to do! I should be more comprehensive and act a little more mature, more like a lady when I am with him. He´s always so correct and I am just a klutz".

"Usagi-chan, that 'stupid teen stuff' you are talking about is just being you. I cannot imagine you being a serious straight boring lady princess. You are you, Usagi. The cheerful noisy girl who never loses faith in anyone and has taught all of us the power of love and friendship. If he does not love you the way you are, he´s loving another person, not you".

Usagi was stunned by her friend´s words. She wanted support from her, but she didn´t expect this reaction. What was she telling her exactly? That Mamoru was not her soul mate? That was not even possible! Was it?

_Kinmoku_

Seiya had been wandering around the palace gardens for a while after he left the meeting room, and now that he had calmed a little, he decided to go and see Taiki, expecting to have a conversation about what had happened, and not only the incomprehensive yelling he received from Yaten.

"Come in" Seiya heard from inside the room after he knocked on Taiki´s door. He opened it a little and took a peek inside.

"Taiki? May I come in?" Seiya asked in a low voice. Taiki´s room was mostly in shadows. He was sitting in one of the chairs around a round table at the end of the room, beside a very big window which was partly covered by long curtains that reached the floor. The afternoon sun shined through a gap left open and lit the spot where Taiki was sitting. The table was full of books, and he was skimming through one of them.

"Yes, Seiya, come on in".

Seiya slowly obeyed and closed the door after him. He sat down on the edge of Taiki´s bed and was there quiet for a while, staring at the floor.

"I just can´t find anything about this Star Kingdom she mentioned…" Taiki finally spoke. "Nothing at all. It´s as if it has never existed, as if it was not real. But on the other hand, several senshi are sometimes mentioned here and there, the best warriors usually, who fought against the most powerful enemies. And these senshi apparently do not belong to any solar system in particular… like us". He frowned while passing pages of the book forward and backwards again.

Seiya was starting to feel anxious again. Taiki did never beat about the bush, he always went directly to the issue, and this issue in particular was very hard for Seiya right now.

"Are you mad at me, Taiki?"

That got Taiki´s attention, and he raised his head a little from the book he was consulting now, and looking him over his glasses, he responded "Why should I be mad at you?"

"Well…Yaten really is. He yelled at me like crazy back at the meeting room, and he said that all of this is my fault, because… because of my behaviour lately".

"Seiya, there is no way this could be your fault." Taiki answered, not really trying to make him feel better, but just stating what the truth was for him. "If I had to be mad at someone, it would be at Kakuuyu-sama for not telling us the truth from the start, not at you. But apparently I cannot get myself to feel anything bad for her. I do not care what triggered this, I only think we deserve the truth, so in a way, I am glad that you caused this. On the other hand…" he continued "so much information at once has got me in shock, and not being able to find out anything else is making me become very annoyed".

Seiya looked at him, his eyes red from all the crying, and for the first time in a lot of time he smiled. Taiki´s pragmatism and scientific mind always calmed him. He was the rock he could always hold on to when things were spinning around him.

"You always manage to soothe me with your logic" Seiya grinned.

Taiki raised an eyebrow "I´m glad that being myself and seeing me feeling really annoyed makes you feel better" he answered with sarcasm.

"You know what I mean, baka" He said, stretching on the bed and feeling a little better. "May I ask you… what are you planning to do? From now on, I mean".

"You are going to go after her, are you" Taiki stated. It was not really a question.

Seiya was caught out of guard, and he suddenly blushed after hearing this.

"Me? Er…well…I…I thought…"

"You are still head over heels in love with her. Everyone can see that. I suppose it has been great news for you to be free of your ties to this planet".

"I miss her very much, that is true…" Seiya replied in a whisper, looking at the floor again.

"Not meaning to ruin your thoughts, but since you seem to like my logic… are you aware that she still has her boyfriend there? You having to return to this planet was never the only problem that kept you away from her. She does not love you, she has her boyfriend. Moreover, apparently she has a destiny to fulfil with him. She´s not just an ordinary girl, she is the princess of the moon, who will rule Earth in the future".

"I know that!" Seiya shouted, frowning.

"Yes, I just wanted you to remember it. Because… is returning to Earth a good idea for you? Is it not going to make you suffer more to see her with another man?" Taiki was now truly worrying for his brother.

"I don´t know. I don´t think it can get any worse than how I am feeling now, I just want to see her again, and all I ask is for her to be happy. If she´s happy with her boyfriend, that would be fine for me. I just… I just need to see her again".

"I see…" Taiki felt sorry for his brother´s sorrow. "So you are returning to Earth, then".

"What about you?" Seiya asked, avoiding the question.

"Well, I need to know more. I just cannot be in the darkness like you two and don´t mind at all. I think I will go talk to Kakuuyu-sama and see what else she can tell me, but sincerely, she did not seem to know much more than what she already told us. And it happens to be that the only other place I know where I could find answers, is where I could speak with other senshi. On Earth."

Seiya´s eyes widened with happiness "Are you saying that… you will come along with me?"

"Mmm… it is not a final decision yet, but it´s probable."

"Taki! That´s so good news! It will be great to go with you, so we could support each other! Although… I would really like for the three of us to return together, as we went the first time. You see, this news was good for me on one side, but I am also feeling really bad. I´ll have to say goodbye to our princess, to our planet, and Yaten is so mad at me…"

"Don´t worry about Yaten" Taiki said. "You know him. He wouldn´t ever change a thing in his life if he could, he just loves to be left alone. He hates changes, especially sudden ones. He would have preferred to stay like this forever, even if he was living a lie. And also, the devotion he has for Kakuuyu-sama is so big… but I think he will eventually attend to reason, and see that you are not to blame for this".

"Yeah, but… he will never agree to come with us to Earth…"

"I did not recall agreeing yet to go myself…" Taiki replied

"Uh! Well, you see I was just saying… given the case you came… and so…"

Taiki smiled a little. "We will see, Seiya. Things are going to be changing very fast now. Maybe you´ll be surprised by how it all finally turns out".

And with this, he stood up and said "I am going to see Kakuuyu-sama. I will look for you later today and tell you if I am going with you or not. Can you wait until then?"

"Of course! It´s not like I´m leaving right away! I also need to get used to the idea of leaving my home planet" and then, right before Taiki left, he added in a soft voice "You are not calling her your princess anymore, are you"

"She is not Our princess, is she? Talk to you later" Taiki said, and left.


	3. Decision

CHAPTER 3: Decision

_Earth_

It was a bright sunny Saturday, and the girls were meeting at the Fruits Parlor Crown for some ice-cream. They were all cheerfully chatting about this and that, while Usagi forced a smile and stirred her shake.

"Usagi, do you plan on beating that milkshake to form peaks?" Rei said, breaking Usagi out of her thoughts.

"Ah! Ahahahahaa!" Usagi laughed nervously when she saw all the foam she had created, which was nearly overflowing the glass. "Sorry, I was not realizing…"

"So, Mako-chan, please continue telling us all about him!" Minako interrumped excitedly.

"About who?" Usagi questioned

"About you-should-have-been-listening" Rei said, narrowing her eyes at Usagi

"Don´t be mean with Usagi, Rei-chan" Ami rescued her "She was probably worried about the exam we have on Monday"

They all sweatdropped at this comment.

"Ami-chan, be serious!" Minako laughed. "That could not be happening!"

"Usagi, I just started to say that I have met this awesome guy…" Makoto continued with her story "He has just moved into the apartment right next to mine! So I get to see him often, and he´s soooo handsome…! He reminds me of this guy I dated…"

"Mako-chan!" They all yelled

"Ok ok, I know I always say this, but this time he REALLY looks like him! If I did not know his name, I would say he´s his twin brother, really, it´s amazing! It´s incredible how in a pair of days he has me feeling as if I had known him forever. And the way my heart races like wild every time I see him... And when we cross paths… his smell…ah! He smells of the best pure chocolate cake, so masculine yet so sweet…"

Usagi listened to her friend speaking about her crush, and couldn´t help to feel a little bit envious… she wanted to feel that too for Mamoru, she wanted to be crazy in love with him… Why was she not feeling like Makoto? Did love calm down after a while and was it normal that she no longer felt like this around him? Her thoughts were interrupted by the loud Minako.

"And? Have you two talked? Is he the cool type of guy? Or educated as a prince? Is he rich? Have you seen his car? Did he invite you somewhere?" Minako interrogated her

"Mina-chan you are going so fast!" Makoto cut her "I´ve barely said hello to him twice…"

"And how do you know his name?" Rei pointed out

"Well, I checked it in the mailbox!"

"Oh my god Mako-chan are you spying on him?" Ami was shocked

"Noo! Not really… I´m just… interested" Makoto was turning bright red now. "I may have stuck my ear to the wall once or twice to try to hear what he was doing, and maybe peeked a little inside his mailbox to see what he was receiving, but that´s it!"

"Mako-chan!" They all yelled again, louder this time

"Well well, you all seem to be having such a good time!" Furuhata Motoki suddenly appeared at the table. He was now working part time at the café as well, since his sister had started working as a babysitter, her true vocation. They all laughed when he arrived, while Makoto who was now looking like a bright tomato looked down at the table. Usagi was sighing, distracted again.

"What´s wrong Usagi?" Motoki asked. "It´s not usual of you being the quiet one in the group! Are you feeling ok? Do you want me to bring you another milkshake? My treat."

"Mmmm, thank you Motoki-oniisan but actually I was planning on leaving now. Next time maybe, but thanks so much for offering!" She smiled at him, to prove him that everything was ok, but her smile never really reached her eyes.

"Ok then. Just call me if you need anything else, girls".

"Are you ok, Usagi-chan?" Makoto asked

"Yes, of course!" She said smiling "It´s just that I should be returning home now. See you tomorrow for watching that movie we talked about?"

"Yes, Usagi-chan, I´ll call you with the details" Minako said, to cover up for her.

"Ok girls, see you tomorrow!" And she left.

They all remained silent for a moment. Minako was going to start talking about something else when Rei interrupted her.

"I´m worried about Usagi"

They all looked at her. She may seem the tough one, always picking on Usagi, but she really cared for her.

"Yes, me too. She just does not seem herself lately, and it´s getting worse. I never saw her rejecting free food before. I just don´t imagine what all this could be about. She doesn´t seem to have any worries, does she?" Makoto said

Minako stared at her ice-cream, as if a movie was being displayed at it.

Ami, who was checking her mobile phone, distractedly asked "Minako-chan, do you know something?"

Minako nearly choked herself. "Me? Why should I know something?"

"Because you are looking at that ice-cream as if it was growing a head" She replied, now looking at her.

Minako shook her head like crazy. "Not at all! I don´t see anything to be worrying about, anyway, she may just not have talked to Mamoru-san yet today and she is feeling lonely! You know how she is, hahahaha!"

Ami looked at her with suspicious eyes, sensing there was something else, but Makoto then commented "Mmm… that may be it. I understand her now that I am sooo in love…!" she said, looking into the sky with sparkling eyes while sighing. With this, they changed topic again.

Usagi was walking back home, and she couldn´t help thinking back on how her friend described what she felt for that guy. When was the last time she had felt like that for Mamoru? It seemed like ages ago, by the time when she had just realized he was Tuxedo Mask. Everything was so new and challenging then, she was childishly in love with the man that always rescued her. After that, they both acted as if it was all set, they were going to be together forever and that was it. 'Has he ever felt like that for me?' she thought 'Has perhaps his heart raced to see me, to be with me, to feel my skin or smell my scent?' She doubted it.

Suddenly, she turned a corner and she saw him… It was Mamoru! He was sitting at a café, and he seemed to be enjoying himself. He was smiling a lot, talking non-stop and even laughing. But, who was he sitting with? Usagi had unconsciously hidden behind the corner, and was now spying. 'What am I doing?' she thought 'He´s my boyfriend, I can go there and greet him if I want to!'

She took a hold of herself, combed a little her long pigtails and walked towards the table where he was sitting, as naturally as she could.

"Mamo-chan!" She reached him and kissed him a quick kiss on the lips. "How fortunate of me to find you on the street!"

"U…Usa-ko! What are you doing here?" He answered surprised

"Well, I just came from meeting the girls at Crown´s and was heading back home when I thought I saw you sitting here with…"

"Usagi-san" A familiar voice called from behind her.

When she turned around, she saw who Mamoru was meeting with at the café.

"Setsuna-san!" Usagi was very surprised "So nice to see you again, I did not know you had returned!" She was really happy to see her friend; it was long since she had seen Setsuna for the last time, since she had been in America continuing her studies for almost all of the last year.

"Yes, I arrived two days ago, and I am just settling in again"

"So, are you staying for good now? That´s so great, Hotaru will be so happy to hear that, she really missed you a lot! Sorry not to have called you or anything, I didn´t know you were back!" she said, giving a quick glance at Mamoru.

He noticed this and rapidly said "Well, yeah, actually we have been in contact these months, since she got to go to America to study and all, which I was planning to do before, and she was telling me now about how things are there and all…"

"Yeah, of course! It´s just that I would have loved to know you were returning, we would have prepared you the best welcome back party you have ever seen!"

Setsuna giggled while elegantly covering her mouth with her perfectly manicured hands in a colour that matched her enigmatic eyes "Don´t worry Usagi-san, that is not necessary. We can all meet whenever you want, so we can talk for a while".

"That would be great!" she responded. A silence then fell over the three of them. Usagi was feeling uncomfortable, as if she was interrupting something.

"So! I should be going back home or they will be worried about me! Have fun you two, and see you soon, Setsuna!"

"See you, Usagi-san" She answered, slight concern in her voice

Usagi hurried back home. She was going so fast she was nearly running, and without even noticing, at some point she had started crying. 'Why am I crying?' she asked herself. She was truly happy to see her friend again, and it was great that Mamoru got along with her, but she was feeling uneasy. 'He was enjoying himself very much with her. He was talking a lot, looking her in the eyes while she talked, and even laughing! Why is he not like that when he´s with me?'

A few moments after Usagi reached her home, the phone rang.

"I´ll get it!" Usagi shouted around "Hello?"

"I will not be able to cover up for you much longer if you keep acting like a sighing sad princess, you know?" a voice replied.

"Minako! Yeah… sorry about that, I was just not myself today"

"Yeah… you need to sort that out, and soon. You cannot continue wandering around like a zombie, acting depressed; people are going to start asking"

"Minako-chan, you know what? I ran into Mamo-chan today on the way home"

"You did? And how did that go? Was he happy to see you?"

"Well… not really. He was… he was at a café with… with Setsuna"

"Really? Has she returned? That´s great!" Noticing the silence at the other end of the line, she added "Wait, is it?"

"Well yeah, I was very happy to see her, that´s not it. It´s just… he was having such a good time with her, Minako-chan… I only… I wish he could be like that with me! Laughing and talking and so on"

"Usagi-chan… Don´t misunderstand what you saw, it´s only that Setsuna-san is older than us, like him, and they both like studying and talking about those types of serious topics and so on, she´s more like…"

"More like him, you mean" Usagi finished her sentence "I´m not jealous or anything! It´s Setsuna we are talking about! It´s the way he was with her, I wish I could be more like her so he would act with me like that too"

"But there we go again. You are you. If he´s your boyfriend, he has to love you the way you are. Not you acting as someone else…"

"I am feeling so confused, Minako-chan…"

"You need to think about it clearly. We will all be here for you, regardless of how this turns out. Try to sleep and take care, Usagi. See you tomorrow at the cinema".

And with this, she hung up. Usagi sat on her bed, and looked through the window, at the stars which were just appearing on the sky. What did she mean by 'regardless of how it turns out'? Did she even have a choice? She loved Mamoru, and they were both going to rule over the Earth as a couple! She had even met their future daughter, what did she have to think about? Wasn´t all her destiny fixed and written in stone? She glanced at the stars… 'What would Seiya be doing now?' she thought.

_Kinmoku_

Seiya was lying down on his bed, his head bursting with all the thoughts he had. How he longed to see Usagi, how he will miss his home planet… Suddenly, he heard a knock on the door.

"Come on in, Taiki, it´s open"

The door opened just a bit, and a pair of emerald green eyes showed up.

"It´s not Taiki, it´s me…" Yaten said.

Seiya raised in a jump in his bed.

"Yaten…" He was relieved to see him. To know he still talked to him. He was angry because of how he had yelled at him, but he was his brother after all, and he hated being the cause of his pain. "Yes, please! Come, come in".

Yaten was frowning as a scolded little child. He went into the room, closed the door and leaned on it, still keeping the distance with Seiya.

Seiya was afraid to talk or even move, to avoid making things worse between them. So he just froze there and waited. He looked at Yaten and noticed in his face that he had been crying a lot, too.

"I…..*clearing his throat* I am sorry about earlier" Yaten finally said, but it was not more than a whisper, and he was still frowning.

Seiya raised an eyebrow "Did Taiki force you to come here and apologize?" He guessed.

"Yeah… he did, actually" Yaten admitted. "I had to, anyway, so sometimes it is good when he acts bossy and obliges me to do certain things".

"I see…"

"You know… I did not want to come and admit it in front of you, but I really am sorry myself. I should not have shouted you like that. In fact, it was not your fault. This would have happened sooner or later." He was still looking down at his feet.

"You have for sure been talking with Taiki, you now sound just like him." Seiya tried to joke. Then he continued "See Yaten, I don´t understand very well what is happening, and what does this mean for us. It´s way too big a thought for me: where do we belong, who we are… I´ll leave that part to Taiki. But I can tell you I do feel guilty for how I have been acting lately. I have been selfish, just thinking about how miserable I felt and not thinking about how my attitude was affecting you… I am really sorry for that and also wanted to apologize".

"Yes, you have been acting even more stupid than usual" Yaten now smiled a little

"Yeah well, I´ll have to admit that. Not that I could avoid it, unfortunately." he added, and continued "Now, with this twist of fate, I may be able to. I do not know how it will end, if I will sort things out for the better or for the worse, but I need to try, I hope you can understand it. This feeling is devouring me inside, and I need to return to Earth to see her again, I am sure about that. And… I would be the happiest person if you both came along with me, the three of us together as it has always been. At least we are sure about that. But it is obviously totally up to you, I will understand it more than you imagine if you decided to stay here with our princess".

"That´s one tough decision to make" Yaten simply said. "And as much as I hate making drastic decisions and changing my life, I am aware I have to make this one soon. You know what? Taiki is going with you".

"Is he? He wasn´t sure yet the last time we spoke"

"Yeah… it seems he went to talk to our princess before he came to speak to me. He was searching answers about us, and she could not give him many. What she did tell him is what he had already thought of: the senshi on Earth might be able to help with this issue. They were awakened before us, and it seems they have even had contact with their past and future lives, so for sure they will be able to find out something more than us alone."

"Right, he´s returning to do some research"

"That´s it. Then he convinced me with his arguments of how I could not direct my frustration to you or anyone and that I should apologize and then decide if I wanted to come along or not." Yaten now looked sad. His voice broke when he started speaking again "I don´t want to leave, you know, Seiya? I love our princess so much, she has been everything for me for these last years, and how I suffered when we lost her and how happy I felt when we recovered her and returned home…" He sobbed while he spoke and was crying freely "I feel we have just got peace and now they are ripping it off of us again! I want to be like this with her forever, but… she is going to have her real senshi soon, and where will that leave me? And what about you two? You are my brothers! You are everything I know, the only ones that I have ever had, my only family! I want to be with you… I…"

Seiya rose up of his sitting position on his bed, reached Yaten and held him in a tight and sudden embrace that stopped his talking and he just cried on Seiya´s chest.

He slowly returned the hug, and they remained like that for a while, holding tightly onto each other, crying silently, until they both calmed down.

Yaten separated himself slightly from Seiya and said "Seiya, I am going with you. You are all that I have, you are my brothers and I need you by my side. Kakuuyu-sama does not need me anymore. I will be very lonely here without you guys."

"Yaten…!" Seiya was truly touched by this. Yaten was his brother, but he hardly ever showed his feelings for anyone. He knew that saying this was a great effort for him. "Yaten, that makes me really happy. And I am sure that Taiki feels the same way. We are nothing without you."

With this, they hugged each other again, both of them feeling more relieved.

"Well, I sure did not mean you had to go that far, Yaten. I just suggested an apology" Taiki appeared at the door and joked, his lips curved in a satisfaction smile by seeing that his brothers had solved their differences.

"Taiki!" They both exclaimed while they quickly jumped to opposite sides of the room, furiously blushing.

"Yeah, well, we have been talking for a while and we have decided we are all going back to Earth". Yaten said, playing down the fact that he had been caught hugging his brother.

"I am very glad to hear that. I may need the help of your airheads for my research, and…" he said smirking, while he pulled of them, each with one of his arms, towards him "and I also do not imagine my life without you two around". He embraced both of them in one big hug, chuckling. "It´s going to be hard, but we will handle it if we are together, so don´t worry, my little brothers" he soothed them by saying this in a very low voice, right into their ears.

The next days were quite chaotic for the three Starlights, making preparations, attending several goodbye parties and other more formal reunions, leaving everything set and finished or instructions for what was left… They were going to leave the planet in which they had lived since they remembered, and it was going to be for a very long time, if it was not forever. And that was hard. They were always half excited half sad, but all the things they had to do kept them busy. Seiya in particular was his active self again. He smiled, never stopped moving and was even caught singing again in a low voice, just for himself.

Finally, the day came when they were to leave. They had left the farewell to their former princess for the last one, and it was the only thing remaining before parting. The three of them met her at one of the palace´s bigger balconies, from which they were going to leave afterwards. The sun was setting, and the closest planet in their solar system, Karinei, which orbited in the opposite direction to Kinmoku, was visible rising in the sky showing its reddish pink magnificence over the horizon.

Kakuuyu was standing there, head turned at the rising planet and setting sun while her long crimson pigtails moved slowly under the evening breeze, as beautiful and elegant as always. The Starlights, now transformed for the trip, walked towards where she was standing and stopped at a close distance from her. She turned around to face them.

"My dear Starlights…" she said, her eyes shining "I cannot get myself to say goodbye to you. You have meant so much in my life. You have been the perfect senshi, the perfect companions, the perfect friends… you have done everything for me. It was much more than I could ask for".

Fighter was gloomy and looking down. Healer´s eyes did not leave hers, and small tears were already flowing along her face. Maker had a serious face, and was the one to speak first "It was a pleasure for us too. You are a very good ruler and a very good friend".

"No grudge, Maker?" she asked

"Of course not, never. Deciding when to tell us about this was your decision to make. I am glad you did and I will never hold any bad feelings for you. I am only taking with me good memories of our time with you".

Kakuuyu smiled at this, but her eyes showed sorrow.

"Princess…" Fighter said "You will always be our princess, no matter where or who we are. Everything we did for you I´ll gladly do it again".

Kakuuyu silently cried now, but she managed to say "Thank you so much Fighter, for everything you have done. For being so loyal even when your heart belonged to someone else. You are the most caring and generous person I have ever met".

"Healer…" Kakuuyu said next, noticing how badly Healer was crying now.

"Princess!" She shouted and ran to her arms. Kakuuyu was surprised at first by this sudden approach, but then her eyes smiled and she returned the hug, while she gently stroke Healer´s soft, silver hair.

"Healer, don´t worry. This is not forever, we will see each other again, right?" Healer slightly nodded, her head buried in the princess' neck. "Moreover, I am going to be perfectly fine here so you do not need to worry about me. The awakening of my planet senshi is imminent, and they are going to help me protect our people. Next time we meet again, I will be a more powerful ruler, that is a promise". She said this looking into Maker and Fighter´s eyes, and they nodded, smiling.

Kakuuyu held Healer from her shoulders and slowly separated her a little bit from her so she could look into her eyes when she said "I love you all, very much. You have been the light that shone bright in my life, the stars to look at to guide my actions. It is time for you to find your own destiny".

With these words, Healer walked towards her sisters and they joined hands. They gave a last look at Kakuuyu trying to capture her image in their memories, and smiled at her before becoming three coloured rays of light which left the balcony at an incredible speed, and launched into the night sky. Three shooting stars were seen crossing the sky for several seconds before disappearing.

"Farewell, my Starlights" Kakuuyu murmured, her eyes never leaving the sky until she could not see them anymore.


	4. Notification

*** Hi there! First of all, disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its characters, although I would love to, so I could pair Usagi and Seiya together... (sigh!). Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows to my story, they really encourage me to continue! Hope you enjoy this new chapter ^_^ ***

CHAPTER 4: Notification

_Earth_

Days passed slowly, the spring breeze was gradually getting warmer and summer could almost be smelt in the afternoon air. Life continued calm for the girls, letting them enjoy it like normal teenagers. The days of fighting and transforming into love and justice defenders seemed so far away that they were almost forgetting about being senshi and all the battles they had gone through. Only Usagi was keeping one of the memories alive: the encounter with those three boys from a faraway planet that had changed her life without her even noticing.

Usagi´s thoughts about Seiya and what she was feeling for him were not decreasing at all, and she was acting gloomier every day that passed. She tried very hard convincing herself about how valuable her boyfriend and the love they shared was, and how they were living one of the most romantic stories she had ever heard of. She had great expectations every time they met, and even tried preparing the best dates with him so that love just had to happen around them, but the truth was that it never resulted like that. Their dates felt as pure formalities, and she could see how he was anxious for just getting them over with to continue with other plans that truly interested him. Usagi´s happy times were now being held mostly in the past, when alone in her room with all the lights off, she looked at the stars and remembered all the good moments with Seiya.

She tried to maintain herself occupied most of the day, to avoid thinking about him or her relationship with Mamoru, and she played the role of the lively Usagi in front of her friends. Today, she was meeting them at the park, where they were all gathering to have a picnic. When she arrived, they were all already there, lying on the grass and chatting.

"Late as always, Usagi!" Rei said, her usual self.

"Usagi-chan hellooooo! Minako jumped from the grass and hugged Usagi, which made her smile "We were waiting for you! Mako-chan has prepared this greeeeaaat looking sandwiches but she would not let us taste them until we were all here! Bring them out now, Mako!"

"Yes, yes, here they are!" Makoto cheerfully replied

"Wow, Mako-chan, these are delicious! You have surpassed yourself again!" Ami said

"Thank you! I have been practicing a lot lately, since… you know… well, just in case I will receive an unexpected visit or something".

"Aaahhh like, from your neighbour next door?" Minako teased

"Are we still like this? Have you even talked to him yet? Or are you still spying on him like an old dement granny?" Rei asked, annoyed at how shy her friend was

"Well, in fact… the other day he was at my door to ask for some eggs he had ran out of! My heart nearly exploded when I opened the door and saw him there…it was so wonderful!"

"And that was all? Hello I need eggs, here you are, goodbye?" Rei was imitating voices

"Rei-chan don't be mean to Mako-chan!" Usagi interrupted, talking for the first time since she arrived "let her enjoy this moment for as long as she wants to, the important part is the feelings you have during the way, not to reach the goal fast"

They all suddenly stared at Usagi, which made her feel very uncomfortable.

"Wha… what did I say now?" She asked

"Actually, it was a very good piece of advice, Usagi-chan, I am astonished of how mature you are becoming" Ami said, and added "Usagi is totally right. Mako-chan, you should take as long as you require, it is not a good idea to rush things with boys, we are still very young for this".

"Well, she can as well enjoy a little upgrade in their relationship, I should think! You may need a slight push from the agent of love!" Minako added excitedly, making the victory sign with her hand "Weren´t we planning to meet tomorrow to study for our final exams in June? How about meeting at Mako´s house?" She grinned.

"Oh, my… I am terrified now. What are you going to do, you devil Minako?" Makoto asked, worried about her friend´s possible behaviour.

"Nothing in particular! Just wanted to visit and see if we may walk past him to see how he looks like and so on! Don´t worry, ahaahhahahaa!" She laughed, while Makoto gave her a suspicious look.

"Fine for me" Ami said, setting it done "Rei-chan, Usagi-chan?"

"Yeah, we´ll meet there tomorrow" they both answered.

The next day, Ami, Minako and Usagi met to go together to Makoto´s house. Rei lived on the opposite direction, so she said she will go there by herself, straight from school. When they reached Makoto´s apartment block, Minako started giggling like crazy.

"What´s so funny Minako-chan? I want to laugh too!" Usagi cried

"hee hee hee" she replied with an evil smile "I have a plan!"

"A plan?" Ami asked

"A perfect coupling plan!"

"Oh no… Minako please behave yourself, will you? Mako-chan will get mad at you if you do something about her neighbour!" Ami responded, but Minako had already gone a few steps ahead of them on Makoto´s apartment corridor.

She turned around a second and whispered "I may not be on duty right now, but I am still the agent of love" and she winked at her two stunned friends.

Suddenly, she stopped at a door and knocked. Ami and Usagi froze on their feet, horrified by her action when they noticed she had not knocked on Makoto´s door but on the previous one. A second later they reacted and both jumped to hide in the corner of the corridor.

Minako was standing in front of the door, smiling broadly when the door opened.

"Hellooooo" Ami and Usagi heard her sing. They both peeked around the corner.

"Hello miss, may I help you?" a masculine voice said.

"Oh-My…!" Minako emphasized exaggeratedly "I think I got the door mistaken! I was going to visit my beautiful, sweet and single friend Makoto!" Usagi and Ami sweatdropped from their observation place.

"Ah, yes, she lives in the next door, lady"

"Please, call me Minako! I am so sorry dear, you know, all these doors look exactly the same and I must have got it mistaken! I hope I have not bothered you!"

"No, not really, don´t worry, I was just…"

"I feel so bad, you were probably doing something important and I interrupted you by randomly knocking at doors, ahahaha!" She was laughing like crazy

"Nnn no… it´s ok…"

"I have an idea!" She shouted suddenly, making the guy nearly fainting from the shock and Usagi´s and Ami´s hairs stand on end. Minako continued "In order for my friend and me to apologize to you for this interruption, we would love to invite you to have a snack with us this afternoon! My friend Makoto happens to be the best cook you will ever meet, and she will sure prepare us something to eat while we get to know each other more! How about in around two hours?"

"Well, I don´t know…will that be ok with Makoto-san?"

"Of course! She´s always saying how she would love to get to know her neighbours more! You know, all living here in the same block, so close but not knowing each other… it´s kind of cold" Minako responded

"Mmmmm…Ok then, I´ll meet you for a snack later" he smiled

"Great! See you, and sorry again!" Minako said, while he closed the door

"My god… she´s a genius!" Usagi admitted from her observing position. Ami was just too stunned to react.

"Come on girls!" Minako shouted at them from the other end of the corridor "Let´s go and tell Mako-chan the good news!"

"You have done WHAT?" Makoto asked, half shouting half whispering to avoid her neighbour could listen, once the girls went into her apartment and told her what had happened.

"Am I the best or what?" Minako praised herself "Aren´t you the happiest girl ever? Isn´t it fantastic to have the Agent of Love as one of your best friends?" She said while she adopted a dramatic pose.

Makoto´s face was now bright red and she started stuttering "Oh..wha… what am… am I going to do? What am I going to say?"

"Minako-chan you are a mischief-maker!" Rei said after hearing the story "Weren´t we supposed to meet for studying? How do you think Mako-chan is going to study now?"

"He won´t be coming for two more hours, so we can use them to study" Ami responded

"Ami-chan, look at her!" Rei said pointing at the blushing Makoto "her head is not into studying right now, she´s just thinking about the guy"

"Should I get changed? Should I prepare something to eat? Clean the room? Everything needs to be perfect!" Makoto was getting hysterical, while Usagi laughed at the situation. She was enjoying herself today with all that was happening, her mind away from her personal thoughts.

The girls managed to study silently for a while. Rei was doing her homework, sitting in front of Makoto which was doing the same, while Minako lied on the floor passing pages of her textbook while humming a melody, not really paying attention to what she was reading. Ami was trying to explain Usagi a maths problem for the third time already.

Makoto stopped writing, smiled and closed her eyes. She pressed them together more and more while she turned redder every second. Rei noticed this and raised her eyes from the notebook to look at her friend.

"Mako… chan?" She said

"AAAHHH I CAN´T!" she cried, and suddenly covered her mouth with both hands, realizing that maybe her neighbour could be hearing her. "I´m so nervous I do not even know what I am doing!" she whispered. "My heart is going wild, I… I can´t breathe properly, I´m so nervous about him coming to my house..!"

Usagi smiled. She knew that sensation. She missed the anticipation felt when you were about to meet your love.

"Just relax, It´s only some guy coming to eat, that´s all. He probably can´t cook and so he could not reject the offer to come" Rei said cynically

"Rei-chan, you are always so mean about love!" Usagi interrupted "It´s the best sensation in the world to feel like this, and true love does exist, so why do you have to ruin it by saying that to Mako-chan? She might as well enjoy it while it lasts"

"Well, that may be because I don´t know about true love yet, I have not had that good experiences with men. We are not all as lucky as you are with Mamoru-san you know? I just did not want Makoto to be upset if this does not go well".

Usagi lowered her eyes at the comment about Mamoru, and was suddenly silent. The atmosphere around the girls turned tense.

Ami noticed this and tried to change issues, and thinking that the problem was about Rei and not about Usagi, she said "Oh by the way, Usagi-chan! The other day I was at the library and I ran into Mamoru-san, do you know who he was with? Setsuna-san! Yes, she has returned! Isn´t it great? She talked about organizing something so that all of us got together again!"

"Yeah… I knew…" Usagi said gloomily "Sorry, I saw her in the street the other day, I forgot to tell you about it. She was at a café… also with Mamo-chan" she ended the sentence in a very low voice.

Minako directed a hard look at Usagi, as if saying her to stop talking like that and acting depressed.

"Ok that´s it. What´s happening here?" Rei said

Silence filled up the room

"Usagi-chan?" Ami said with a caring worried voice

Usagi looked down at the table, as if she was trying to disappear, and said nothing.

"Minako-chan?" Rei insisted

"What?" She answered

"What´s going on between you two with all this attitude and those looks you are directing at each other?" Rei said

"What looks? I don´t know what you are talking about" Minako played dumb

"Minako, you may be a good agent of love, but you are an awful liar" Rei pointed out "Come on, it´s just us here, we have never hidden anything from each other, and if you have a problem we will help you with it!"

"mmm…" Minako looked at Usagi once more, but she was sitting still, completely quiet "It is not my secret to tell, Rei-chan"

Makoto then stood up, sat next to Usagi, and gently raised her face with her hand until their eyes met.

"Usagi, what´s wrong?" She asked "We can help, we are your best friends"

Usagi looked at Makoto. Her eyes were watery and Makoto worried more when she saw it.

"It´s… nothing really. I am just having a not-so-good period with Mamo-chan, but everything will be back to normal soon".

"Has he done something to you?" Rei asked, concerned. This was not their first crisis, and she was starting to think that they were happening too often.

"No! Not at all! It´s not that. It´s… it´s only that he is so busy lately with university and so on that we hardly ever see each other and when we do, I feel like it is more routine than he is actually willing to spend time with me"

The girls looked sad when they heard this comment. Usagi found it very hard to tell this to her friends, who thought her relationship with Mamoru will always be perfect. But once she had started, she decided to continue.

"The other day, when I saw him with Setsuna-san… he was having so much fun with her… they were talking all the time, and they laughed… we are never like that."

"Usagi-chan…" Rei managed to say

They all directed concerned looks at her. Makoto hugged her with an arm, and they were silent for a while.

Suddenly, Usagi smiled and said "I´m fine, really! I just miss feeling like Mako-chan today! But I´m sure that as soon as Mamo-chan finishes his final year exams in a few weeks, he will have more free time and everything will return to normal! Don´t worry, girls!"

"Usagi… please promise us that if something else happens, you will tell us right away so we can understand and support you. We are your best friends and we care for you very much". Rei said, remembering that time a year ago when they found out that Usagi had carried by herself the burden of not knowing anything about Mamoru for a long time, and had not told anyone about it.

"Yes, Rei-chan, thank you" She smiled.

"That´s a promise" Rei said, and they all smiled at her.

"Well well well…" Minako interrupted, while looking at her watch. "See how late it is already! We should be leaving to go home, don´t you think? We are teens and need a proper rest!"

"Hey, wait… WHAT?" Makoto suddenly realized Minako´s plan

"We are leaving you alone, of course! Were you expecting for us to stay here to be with you during your date? Of course not! We do not want to interrupt anything!" She said while she chuckled and pulled every one of their arms to stand them up.

"You wouldn´t dare! I may die here if you leave me alone!"

"Oh you will do perfectly fine" Minako said while pushing the rest of the surprised girls towards the door. "Goodbye Mako-chan, have fun! Ah! And don´t forget to call as soon as he leaves!" And with this, she closed the door of Makoto´s apartment.

Makoto was left alone still seating at the table, too shocked to react.

The day after, the five friends met after school at Crown´s, with the only intention of interrogating Makoto about her date from last afternoon.

"Soooooo, how was it?" Minako asked as soon as they all arrived.

"Minako I swear to you that if you are still alive it is because… I had the best evening ever!" Makoto responded blushing like a little girl, and she added "How could you do that to me? It could have gone completely wrong, you know?"

"But it didn´t, did it? I have faith in you Mako-chan, I knew you could handle it just fine" she smiled.

"So, was it fun?" Ami asked

"It was more than fun! First, when he knocked and I opened the door, I didn´t know what to say, and he just greeted me with his fantastic smile…then he asked of course where you were, and I mumbled something about you girls having to leave, and that if that was ok for him… and he said that it was ok, because he wanted to meet ME!" Makoto was excited

"Heee… lucky girl! He actually said that?" Rei said

"He did! Oh I felt soooo good! Then it was all great fun. We had some cake and something to drink, and we talked and talked for nearly two hours! He said he loved my cake and you know what? He´s also really fond of plants! We talked a lot about it and we even looked through several botanic books together… we are so alike!"

Usagi smiled. She loved to see her friend so happy with the boy, sharing things in common and enjoying their time together. "And are you meeting him again?" Usagi asked

"Actually yes, he said he would love to take me to a plant shop he knows where they have these rare species which cannot normally be found. I am so excited about it all…!"

"We are very happy for you, Mako-chan" Ami said, and they all nodded.

"Don´t you look beautiful today, Makoto-san" a masculine voice said

"Motoki-oniisan!" They all said back in unison

"Yeah, that´s the effect love has in girls, Motoki! That pink shade in her cheeks, that sparkle in her eyes… aaahhh! I´m so jealous! I want to be in love too!" Minako responded with shiny eyes

Motoki grinned at this comment "So are you dating someone, Makoto-san?" Makoto nodded timidly, as red as she could get "That is…great. Congratulations" Motoki said, smiling slightly.

"Thank you" Makoto muttered

"Do you think perhaps I should try to get more information about the new singer which I adore? Maybe if I know where he´s studying I could even transfer schools or something!" Minako continued

"Minako-chan, please be serious! School is for studying, not for flirting!" Ami responded

They all laughed at this.

They spent the rest of the afternoon talking and having an ice-cream, and then they all went home. All of them except Usagi, who was meeting Mamoru that evening for dinner. It was a strange hour to meet, especially on a school day, but since he was so busy now with his studies he had asked her if they could meet then, which appeared to be the only free slot he had had for dating her in about two weeks.

Usagi was waiting for Mamoru outside Crown´s where they were supposedly meeting half an hour before. She was tired and was starting to get cold from waiting outside. She was going to get inside again and wait for him there when his car stopped in front of her.

"Usa-ko, come inside" He just said

"Mamo-chan… I´ve been waiting like forever out here!" She replied while getting into the car.

"Yeah… sorry" He said while giving her a quick kiss "I couldn´t manage it earlier, I had to finish some paperwork".

"Oh ok, that´s fine" Usagi answered, not wanting to ruin one of the few dates they had by being angry at him for being late again "you sure are doing a lot of paperwork lately! Is that for your final evaluation, also?"

"Yeah, well, a little bit of everything" he said, not explaining much "By the way… do you mind if we have dinner at my place? It´s quite late and I wanted to talk to you in some place calm. We can order food, and don´t worry, I´ll give you a ride home afterwards"

"Yes, that´s ok" She said, trying not to give importance to what he had mentioned about talking. He had not said anything really, it was… the way he had said it, the tone of the voice, Usagi didn´t know why, but she had a bad feeling about it.

As soon as they arrived at Mamoru´s house, he picked up the phone and called to order something to eat. Usagi made herself at home, went into the kitchen and started preparing some tea for both of them, so they could drink it while they waited for the food to arrive. She already knew her way through Mamoru´s house very well, she had been there lots of times, so she did not have any trouble finding what she needed. While she was slicing a lemon and putting the slices into two cups, Mamoru entered the kitchen and hugged her from behind. She smiled.

"Mamo-chaan" she said playfully "Careful, it is not a good idea to surprisingly hug a senshi while she´s holding a knife!"

"Well, you have not been a senshi for a long time now, and I don´t even think you will ever need to be one again, so I´ll take the risk" He stated, while turning her around so she was facing him, while he slowly opened her hand to get the knife and place it in the counter.

He embraced her for a moment. She could feel his warmth and his smell, that always comforted her. He had always made her feel safe, right from the start when he was only that strange masked man in a tuxedo that always came to her rescue. Mamoru lowered his face, his lips searching hers. They kissed, their eyes closed. He held her tight around the waist with one arm, while he gently ran his other hand through her long golden hair. She felt good, she felt safe… but that was all. No passion, no emotion, no desire, no…love? These thoughts started gathering in her head, and she unconsciously stopped kissing him.

When he noticed she was not responding to his kiss, he backed off a little, to look at her.

"Is something wrong, my princess?" he whispered while clearing her bangs off her face.

She was confused herself. 'What has happened?' she thought 'Why did I stop kissing him? It´s the most intimate moment we have had in a long time, wasn't I expecting this all the time? Why am I not enjoying it now?'

She shook her head, smiled and said "No, nothing is wrong, it´s just that I´m hungry!" she made up as an excuse.

"Oh, ok. Food will be here soon. Should we go to the living room meanwhile and have this tea you have prepared? I want to talk to you about something"

"Yeah" she said, and followed him to the next room.

They both sat down at the sofa, and he gently placed one hand over her knee.

"See Usa-ko, I have to tell you something important" Mamoru started then

Usagi took a sip of her tea and left the cup in the table "What is it, Mamo-chan?" She was uneasy about this conversation.

"Well, I don´t want you to be upset, this decision I am going to make will not change anything at all between you and me" he continued

Usagi just stared at him, not moving a muscle.

"I have decided to take up again my dream of finishing my studies in America"

Usagi was speechless. She could not believe what she was hearing. Not now, please, not now.

"What?" that was all she could think of answering

"You have always known that was my true desire, Usa-ko, I assumed it will not surprise you"

"Yeah, well, but I thought we had talked this through after what happened, and that you had decided to stay here with me. You know how much I need you!" she was beginning to be desperate. He could not leave. If he left now…

"Usagi, I gave up my dream for you, because you had gone through so much during the last battle and you were feeling so insecure that you needed me here by your side all the time" He answered "But it´s been more than a year already. There are no enemies anymore, all is safe, and you will be just fine here without me. In fact, you managed quite well without me last time, so we should not worry about that. You are also more mature, and so is our relationship, so I think it is a good moment for me to fulfil my dream".

Usagi´s eyes started to get watery, but she didn´t want him to see her cry. He had just called her mature, and she did not want him to take back his words.

"But…what about us?" she asked, holding her tears

"What about us? Nothing will change, Usa-ko. I am not going to the ends of the world, so we can keep in touch regularly, and I will come visit when I can" and then he added "You don´t need to worry about our relationship, we are going to be together for all eternity, we have seen the future that awaits for us, we have even met our child! What are a few years not living in the same country compared to spending all eternity together? Nothing!"

"So that is what you think?" She exploded. She was furious now. Mamoru was startled; he did not expect this reaction from her at all. She continued then "since we are going to be together forever, we do not need to see each other so often, or nourish our love. It´s set in stone so it will happen anyways, will it? Don´t need to make the effort of caring for the other one"

"Usagi please calm down, don´t act childish"

"I am not being childish Mamo-chan, I just… I just need you here by my side. I need you to want to be here with me, to want to spend time with me…"

"What do you mean?" Mamoru was shocked by this comment

"It´s… nothing. Forget it" Usagi did not want to make things worse. How was she going to solve this? How was she going to make their relationship better if he was going away from her? She needed to spend time with him more than ever, to clear her thoughts once and forever about the love they shared. If he was leaving…how was it going to get any better?

"Usa-ko, please. Try to understand. This is my dream, it is very important for me. Nothing will change between you and me, I promise".

That was exactly Usagi´s problem: that nothing changed between them. She needed it to change, she could not live not feeling love for and from the man that was destined to be with her forever.

"Mamo-chan, do you still love me?"

"But of course, my princess. You are Serenity of the Moon and I am Endimyon of Earth. Our love is epic and has transcended ages"

"Yeah, but do you love…me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean just that…do you love me…or do you love princess Serenity?

"Usagi, you are both the same person. How can I not love you after all that we have fought to be together? Doesn´t that show the depth of my love for you?" He did not like this topic at all, so he tried to finish it fast "Usagi, I will love you forever. All is calm and peaceful and there is absolutely no reason for me not to pursue my dream. Everything will be fine"

Usagi surrendered. She had tried making him understand how she was feeling, but she had not succeeded. Mamoru was going to leave for America, and she was going to be left here alone with her thoughts, seeing him much less often than now, worsening their relationship…

"Ok, Mamo-chan. If you say so, I guess…"

"Thank you, Usa-ko. I knew you will understand" he interrupted her before she changed her mind. Then he continued "Also, I´ll be leaving in a few days".

"What, already?" She thought she had at least until after summer, when she had internally planned to fix this the way she could.

"Yes, just for a while. I need to arrange many things there, paperwork at the university, look for an apartment, and so on. Then I will return, take my final exams, and leave again at the beginning of the academic year. Ah, and you know what? Setsuna-san is coming with me now, to help me around. She is also going to study one more year abroad". He said this last sentence casually, as if giving it very little importance.

But Usagi was shocked again. Setsuna was going with him? Could this get any worse?

"Oh is she? That is great, is it? You two seem to get along very well together".

"Yes, is great to have a good friend around that can help me. I assume it will be hard, at least at the beginning. And like this at least I know someone".

Usagi did not fear about Setsuna and Mamoru, she just feared about Mamoru noticing how empty their relationship really was when compared to others, for example the one he had with Setsuna, where they both enjoyed the same things…

"Uh huh" She just said. "So, when is the last time I´m seeing you before you leave for the first time?"

"I´m not sure, I still need to prepare so many things, as well as find time to study… I will call you as soon as I find time to see you. For the moment, let´s make the best of the night, shall we? I was even thinking that you could call your parents and tell them you were staying at one of your friends' house so we could spend the night together…"

Usagi just wanted to cry. She only desired to be left alone with her sorrow and her thoughts.

"Actually… I´m not feeling very well. It seems it was not hunger before, I´m feeling a little sick. Would you mind taking me home now?" she told Mamoru

"What about dinner?"

"I´m not feeling like it, really. Sorry, Mamo-chan. I think I just need some rest"

After convincing him, Mamoru drove her home. She was silent all the way, and Mamoru did not try to start any conversation, feeling that it was not only her stomach that was upset. He decided it will be better to let her think about all that he had told her, and the next day for sure she would see things as he saw them. They said goodbye to each other not even kissing, and Usagi rapidly entered her house, without looking back.

As soon as she reached her room, she closed the door and started crying freely. She felt so desperate she couldn´t even stand. She crawled to her bed and picked up the photograph where Mamoru, Chibiusa and her smiled happily like a family.

"Chibiusa-chan, what am I going to do?" She cried out loud

She felt awful. Her relationship with Mamoru was as weak as it had ever been and now he was leaving? She needed just the opposite! She needed reassurance, she needed him to tell her how much he loved her, to show her his love for her, to spend time together enjoying themselves! And that was never going to be possible, because he was leaving.

She was determined to fight for their relationship, and hold onto it until everything went back to normal, even though she did not feel what she was supposed to for her boyfriend. She was going to do it for the World´s sake, for the future´s sake, for Chibiusa´s sake…

She had experienced true love, but not with Mamoru. How blind had she been back then, when she was with Seiya and she felt wonderful, thinking that it was just a friendship. Now she knew why she felt that way, and she remembered that moment back then when he embraced her to protect her when they were at a disco and the lights went out… it had been a marvellous day, a perfect date.

Even though, she was decided to pack all those feelings away and continue with her destiny, but what she feared more now was… was Mamoru ready to do the same? She knew that the lack of feelings during their dates was mutual, that was easy to tell. Will he change his mind about her after spending so much time with someone who understands him and makes him so happy? Will he still love her when he returns, after hanging out with Setsuna?

She took the photo and put it into one of her drawers. She did not want to see it right now; she did not want to think about the future at all, which she now felt that was unfair, having all decided for her without being able to choose. She turned off the lights, went into her bed covering all of herself up with the blankets and cried to sleep.


	5. Separation

***Hello everyone! Hope you like how the story goes for the moment... this chapter is a little shorter because I had to cut it there so it made sense, but don´t worry... chapter 6 is going to be longer and very VERY interesting (wink, wink). Love your visits and reviews, so feel free to leave one with a comment or opinión, I would be very glad to read it! Of course, I do not own Sailor Moon... Enjoy!***

CHAPTER 5 : Separation

_Japan_

Usagi woke up with her eyes puffy with all the crying. Her vision was blurred, so she rubbed her eyes with her hands and opened them again.

"Luna!" Usagi was surprised. There on the bed was Luna, staring at her. She had the bad habit of doing that.

"Good morning Usagi-chan! I came to visit" Luna was now living at Minako´s house with Artemis, at least most of the time. She came to visit Usagi very often, and sometimes she even stayed the night. "How are you feeling?" the cat asked

"mmm…" Usagi muttered, while getting up and starting to get dressed for school. For once she had woken up early, so she´d better not be late.

"You don´t look that good, you know?" Luna said, as sincere as ever "Have you been crying?"

Usagi shook her head absent mindedly while she undid her sleeping hairstyle and started combing her hair.

"Usagi-chan…" Luna said and sighed "I have been talking to the girls, you know. They have told me that you are not going through a good moment, and I thought of coming to stay with you for a while, just in case you need some company"

Usagi stopped what she was doing and she looked at herself in the mirror.

"Neee Luna… do I look like a princess?" she said, combing her hair this way and the other.

"What´s with that question all of a sudden? You don´t have to look like one, you are one"

"Yeah, but… do I act like a princess or look like one?" She continued, turning around to face the cat "Am I supposed to be different, in order to make the future happen?"

"What´s bothering you, Usagi-chan?" Luna questioned back, not really knowing how to answer her friend. Usagi hesitated for a moment, not wanting to give out the bad news.

"Mamoru is leaving for America, to study his career abroad"

"What, again?!" Luna couldn't help exclaiming "I mean…how´s that? When did he tell you?"

"Yesterday night. Apparently he is leaving really soon, to fix everything there before the academic year starts. He said he had given up his dream for me once, and now that there is nothing to fear, he wanted to go for it" she had such sadness in her voice "I was wondering if… maybe I was different and acted more like the princess I am supposed to be, he would be staying by my side and not leaving me again…"

"Usagi-chan…" Luna didn´t know what to say, feeling the sorrow of her companion.

"I´m scared, Luna. This is not what we need right now, I sense our relationship getting more and more distant, and if he leaves now… what if he forgets about me? What if I learn to live without him? What would happen to the future?"

"Usagi, first thing: this is absolutely not your fault. Please don´t be so hard on yourself." Luna said "And about the future… please don´t worry that much. What is meant to be, will be"

They talked for a while more, while Luna tried to reassure her and tell her everything was going to be all right, although she was not too sure herself. Then, Usagi rushed out of the house, late again for school. During the day, she was completely absent-minded, not paying attention to anything that happened in her surroundings, which caused her to be scolded by her teachers in several occasions. Minako tried to convince her to meet them at Rei´s temple after school where they were all gathering to study and do homework, but she rejected the offer. She did not feel like being with anyone right now, so she just went home.

Later that afternoon, while the four friends were studying at the temple, the door of the room opened and Rei´s grandfather appeared.

"Rei, that weird looking cat that sometimes wanders around here is at the door looking at me anxiously. It´s starting to make me nervous"

They all laughed at this while Rei stood up, sighed and said "Thanks, grandpa, I´ll go see if it wants to come in to have a sip of milk"

Rei returned with Luna in her arms, and gently dropped her on the study table.

"Good afternoon Luna" Ami greeted "Is something wrong?" Since Luna lived with Minako, it was not usual for her to be in such a rush to see them.

"Actually it is" Luna said simply. They all directed a concerned look at her, the smiles fading away from their faces. "Have you girls talked to Usagi-chan today?"

"Not really, she was acting quite depressed again and was in no mood to talk. Her problem with Mamoru is affecting her more than it should" Minako answered

"Well, it is getting worse"

"What do you mean?" Rei said

"Mamoru is leaving to study his career in America" Luna stated

"What?" They all shouted

"Does he never learn the lesson? Does he still think that´s a good idea after what happened?" Rei was angry now.

"Oh my…this is just the last thing she needed" Minako said

"Yes, that was exactly what Usagi said" Luna responded

"But…when? For how long? They may be able to fix everything before he leaves, and if it is just for a short period of time…" Makoto said trying to be optimistic

"Apparently he is leaving right away, and he intends to study the rest of his career there. That´s a few more years still. He told her that he had given up her dream for her, and that now that everything was ok he was going to try again"

"How does he have the guts to say that? He makes her feel bad by saying that it was for her sake that he gave up his dream and he is leaving her all alone to do it now? That´s not giving up anything, that´s postponing it!" Rei said furiously

"He is going with Setsuna, is he?" Ami said, concerned look in her eyes

"Yes" Luna answered

"Eh? How did you know, Ami-chan?" Minako was very surprised

"Hmm, it was just a guess, but I thought it could be possible. When I saw them at the library the other day, they were talking about Setsuna´s studies in America, and they seemed to be filling up several papers together. Setsuna looked quite excited and she blushed when I came by to greet them, so I thought that she may be going with him" Ami plainly said. Minako looked wide-eyed at her very smart friend.

"That does not make things any easier…" Makoto said "Poor Usagi, she must be feeling really bad now"

"She´s been crying all night, and she does not want to see anyone. I´m going to stay a few nights with her" said Luna, looking at Minako "just to keep her company".

"Yeah, that probably is a good idea" Minako said "Can we do anything else for her?"

"Like kill Mamoru?" Rei joked

"Come on Rei, relax. This is not our business but theirs. They have to find the way to solve it by themselves. The only thing we can do is support our friend" Ami stated

"Yeah but thinking about it… if they don´t work out together, what is going to happen with the future? Or worse… if they finally end together, is it going to be at the cost of Usagi´s happiness?" Rei said out loud what all of them were thinking.

"That´s thinking too much in advance…let´s see how things turn out by themselves" Minako responded "But if you want my opinion, I think Usagi´s happiness is more important than any future. It is not fair for her to have to do something just because she is supposed to."

"Yeah, that´s true, but… it´s so scary to mess up with the future…" Makoto whispered

_Setsuna´s house_

"Mooo Setsuna-Mama… I don´t want you to leave again! You have just arrived!" Hotaru pouted

"Hotaru-chan, I have already explained this to you, it is to assist our prince that I need to go back abroad. This is important for him. Don´t worry my child, I´ll be back soon" Setsuna responded in a sweet and low voice while she softly kissed the top of Hotaru´s head before turning around to continue arranging her suitcase

"Well, it´s not like it´s such a burden for you to have to do this, is it?" Michiru teased, coming into Setsuna´s room with a pile of clean folded clothes.

"I don´t know what you mean, Michiru-san" Setsuna responded, her cheeks turning slightly rosy.

"Of course not" she responded sarcastically

"Hotaru, stop flying around and go finish your homework" a more masculine voice said from the doorframe.

"But….! Oook, Haruka-Papa, I´ll go finish it and then I can come back with Setsuna-Mama, right?" the child said, running out of the room.

Haruka caringly touched her head while she passed by her. "Are you sure you are ok about this, Setsuna?" she said, after Hotaru had left.

"I sincerely do not see the trouble you two have with this" she responded

"Setsuna… we both know perfectly what you have always felt for King Endymion since the beginning of time. I do not think that feeling has decreased a tiny bit, and with you spending so much time with him lately and now leaving together to America, both of you alone…" Michiru said, and continued "Is it good for you? Aren´t you going to suffer more by being so close to him and knowing you cannot do anything?"

After hearing this, Setsuna stopped packing her suitcase and turned around to face her friends, which were now together, Haruka holding Michiru around her thin waist while they both looked at her with concerned eyes.

"I appreciate very much how you care for me. But it is perfectly clear for me how the situation is and I will die before doing anything that could harm the princess or prince. I will continue performing my duty as I always have, admiring him from the distance…" She answered, serious, and continued "Also, we have a future to protect. I know it more than anyone else; I will not dare ruining it".

"You sure are a very brave woman, Setsuna" Haruka responded, and turning to face Michiru she added "I would not be able to stay away from someone I loved that much" she whispered, her lips almost touching Michiru´s temple. Michiru trembled with her intimacy display.

Setsuna smiled, satisfied by seeing the true love that her friends had the chance to share. "I will be fine, as I always have been. Thank you girls, I will miss you".

The next days were an agony for Usagi. She felt as if she was imprisoned, because she knew she had to do something but she couldn´t. She tried meeting Mamoru in several occasions, but he always ended up cancelling because of how busy he was with last minute arrangements. Usagi was now hardly seeing anyone except on school. She spent the afternoons looking through her window, sighing, and crying from time to time. She could not stop thinking about the future they had witnessed. What would it be of Chibiusa if it did not happen? She would never exist! And what about the entire world?... These thoughts even made her feel vertigo, she had to save that future at any cost!

Luna did not leave Usagi´s side. For the most time, she just curled next to her silently. Sometimes they talked a little about the situation. Luna could see how concerned Usagi was for the future, and not that much about her happiness or her wellbeing. This fact also worried the cat, since she was seeing her friend turning weaker and weaker every day.

Finally, the day Usagi feared the most arrived. Mamoru was leaving for America, and she had not had the chance of meeting him to try to improve things between them before they separated.

Mamoru´s plane was leaving in about four hours and he proposed Usagi dating at a park close to his house to say goodbye to each other, so he could then grab his suitcases and take a taxi directly to the airport.

The couple walked silently holding hands around the park´s paths for a while before sitting on a bench next to a pond. The afternoon was warm and the air blew slowly, but Usagi was shivery. She had not been eating that much the past few days, and being by herself all the time and crying had not done any good to her physical state. The former brightness in her eyes had completely disappeared.

"Usa-ko" Mamoru finally said "I am glad you finally agreed to this, since it makes me really happy, it is important for me. You will see how everything goes great"

Usagi simply nodded, her face expression still. Mamoru took her hand.

"I love you, princess. I´ll be back before you even notice".

Usagi turned to face him, tears in her eyes "I will miss you so much, Mamo-chan. Please return to me as soon as you can, you are my future".

He smiled, caressed her face with the back of his hand while wiping the tears, and then leaned to kiss her. Usagi could not stop crying, she had a bad sensation about this. It was too much like a farewell forever, and she couldn´t help remembering the last time they were in this situation and how it had all ended.

"Call me as soon as you arrive, ok? So I know everything went ok…" Usagi pleaded, separating her mouth from his. The uneasiness did not leave her, even with his soothing words and affection displays. His kisses no longer meant anything for her.

"I will, but please don´t worry. Chaos is gone; there is nothing else to fear." He said.

_Darkness_

Meanwhile, in an almost complete darkness, a guttural voice was heard.

"Have you sensed that?"

"Yes, my Lord" A weaker voice said

"How is this even possible? How come it is happening again?" he exclaimed, sounding like a thunderstorm

"I´m not sure, my Lord. We had thought the problem was over after the last battle, I don´t know why they have returned."

"Do you think that is a valid answer for me?" Even the floor was shaking with the vibration of his deep voice "Do you know how much we have fought to avoid that destiny from happening? Do you know that if we don´t stop it, it will mean the final destruction of us all? How dare you answer me saying you are not sure?"

"sss…so…so…sorry, my Lord"

"Go send some minion to investigate why the Stars have returned to Earth. Or better, go do it yourself, I do not want to leave anything else up to fate! And… how is our elimination plan going?"

"Slow but steady, my Lord. We are doing well for the moment. One already in full action and the second one is targeted. One at a time, as agreed, in order not to arise suspicion"

"That is no longer acceptable! We will have to rush the plan now. This was not expected, because now that the Stars have arrived it will mean they will have more help, and that is more chances of failure for us. We need to perform the plan as soon as possible, while they are still alone"

"As you wish, my Lord. I will inform the other generals about this"

"Hurry and do so now! Target them all at a time, and speed up the plan! We must destroy the forces of the Moon while we have the opportunity… We must avoid the Star and the Moon to get together…at any cost!"


	6. Emotion

*** Hello again! So here´s the new chapter! Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it... I am already working on the next ones...I have so many things I want to tell that I barely keep up writing! Thank you very much for your favorites, follows, and especially reviews, love to know you like my story! *** Ah, I do not own Sailor Moon... if I did, this you are reading right now would have been the ending***

CHAPTER 6: EMOTION

More than a week had passed by already since Mamoru and Setsuna left. He called right after landing in America, to calm Usagi down, but told her that he will not be able to contact her as often during the first weeks, since he will be very busy organizing everything, so apart from that first call Usagi had not known more about him.

Life continued the same, oblivious to the sorrow in Usagi´s heart. She had packed her feelings deep inside her and did not let them show up, at least in public. She forced herself to be active and tried to smile all that she could and act as she would normally do. Nevertheless, her friends knew how she was feeling and that she was just trying to look happy not to worry them. They could tell by looking at her eyes, which now always had a lonely shade, as if they had lost their natural brightness. They also knew because Luna, who was still staying at Usagi´s house, told them how she spent the evenings blank, staring at the sky or at the photo of the couple with Chibiusa. Usagi did not even cry anymore, she was in a kind of sleepwalking state, continuing with her life like she did not have interest in living it.

Her friends were very worried about this, and so, they made up all this fun plans for the weekends to have Usagi as entertained as possible and to keep her head out of the thoughts of the future or of the past… That sunny Sunday afternoon they were all meeting at the Fruit Parlor Crown, Usagi´s favourite place to have a sweet snack.

"Sorryyyyy! I´m so late!" Makoto rushed into the café like a rose-smelling cyclone.

"Mako-chan, this is not like you! You have even arrived later than Usagi!" Rei scolded her "Is something wrong… or ... wait…is it totally right?" She said, when by looking at her late arriving friend she saw how she had slightly blushed after sitting down.

"Awww I know you are absolutely sick of hearing me tell you about my boyfriend, but everything´s just so perfect with him!" Makoto answered, closing her eyes timidly

"Oh dear, and you even just called him your boyfriend! That is so cool!" Minako was excited

"Yeah, we are all into each other. I met him for lunch today and that is why I arrived late"

"For lunch? What do you mean, it´s six in the afternoon!" Ami pointed out

"Ami-chan come on! When you´re in love, time just blows by so fast, like a warm hurricane, and you don´t even notice it!" Minako said with dreamy eyes

"Well, said in a different way, but that was more or less what happened. We started our date at 12, had lunch, went for a coffee and suddenly it was six o-clock!" Makoto said, excited

"That´s the power of true love!" Minako shouted while she stood up in a jump, too loud for a public place, which made several other people around to turn and stare at them.

"Minako-chan! Keep your voice down and sit, please!" Ami quickly said, embarrassed, and pulling her down to her seating position. Usagi laughed.

"Oh Minako you are so cheesy!" Rei answered

"What do you mean, cheesy? It´s the truth! When you fall in love, you tell me!" Minako defended herself

"Yeah, I doubt that would ever happen, anyways…" Rei murmured, half to herself, half to her friends

"What´s the problem, Rei-chan?" Usagi asked now. She had enough with feeling miserable herself, she did not want any of her friends to suffer. "Why are you so hard with love topics?"

"It´s not that, it´s just… I am not into love anymore. I have had several opportunities and none went good at all. I don´t think I still believe in love forever that much…" She answered, seriously

"But that can´t be!" Minako was shocked by her friend´s answer "First of all, we are the senshi who fight for LOVE and justice, how are you supposed to fight if you don´t believe in what you are fighting for?"

"Well, not a problem anymore, since we are not even fighting now" Rei said

"Rei-chan, but… we will always be the senshi of love and justice, and it´s not only that… how is it possible that you don´t believe in love? It´s the most pure and perfect feeling in the Universe!" Minako continued exposing her arguments

"It is? See Usagi now, I don´t think she still sees love that way, with all that she´s suffering because of it" Rei said, now slightly annoyed

"Rei!" A chorus of angry voices said, while they all stared angrily at her

"I still do" Usagi´s weak voice was heard

"Usagi-chan…" Minako said

"I still do. I think love is the force that moves the Universe, and the only thing worth fighting for" Usagi smiled at Rei

"Usagi, sorry…" Rei said, feeling sorry for her comment "I didn´t mean to bring up bad thoughts to you, I got carried away"

"No, you don´t have to apologize, what you said is true" Usagi said in a calm and low voice, while looking down. "There is no point in acting as if nothing is happening, you all know how I feel, you can tell I am not good now and that it does not look like it is going to get any better soon" Tears were forming in her eyes, but she suddenly continued, full voice and looking straight at them "But I still think that love is the most marvellous feeling of all! And that I will do everything to defend it, and to make sure the important people for me have it, that the whole World has it!"

They all looked at her, concerned.

"And what about you, Usagi?" Minako said "We also want love for you"

Usagi´s tears were now flowing. "Yeah… " she continued as she could "First of anything I am the guardian of this Solar System, and I have to make sure that everyone finds the peace and love they deserve… and then… I will have Mamo-chan with me, will I?"

The question was left open, no one answered. The tone with which she said it indicated that she did not quite believe her own words, and if she did, it was not clear if that was going to make her feel love for herself…

Usagi noticed the silence and concern, and tried to distract attention. This was her burden; she did not want her friends to have to deal with it. So she said "Anyways! Love is around us all, and I am sure that it will strike you sooner or later, Rei-chan. Then you will understand it and will be positive that it is worth fighting for it until the end!"

Rei smiled sincerely, touched by the pure love and devotion for others her friend always gave off. The rest of the girls nodded agreeing.

Makoto, which had only had time to arrive and sit down before all this conversation started, said "Well, I´m going to get a drink, do any of you want something?"

"It´s ok, Mako-chan, I´ll go order it for you, I´m closer to the counter. What will you have?" Rei asked

"Ice tea, please. Thanks Rei-chan"

"Not at all" She answered while standing up.

As soon as she turned around to head to the café counter, she bumped really hard into something without having time to react, and started falling backwards inevitably… when suddenly she felt a firm arm holding her from her waist.

The girls yelled in unison when they saw their friend falling, and they were absolutely silent the next moment when they saw the resulting image: A very handsome tall man with short messy hair of a fiery maroon red and deep dark eyes was half leaning over Rei, holding her tight around the waist with his very strong right arm, while he held one of her hands with his left one. Rei was completely astonished, holding in her fisted left hand the neck of the shirt the man was wearing, and with her jet black hair cascading down loose almost to touch the floor. Their faces were really close, and they were looking at each other right into the eyes. They were completely still in this position, looking like if someone had frozen two dancers in the final move of their dance.

All of a sudden, Rei reacted. She blushed furiously, her crimson red cheeks feeling as if they were burning, and she started moving nervously to try to recover her upright position, which nearly made her fall again. The man then pulled her up from the hand he was holding, and she finally stood.

"Tha…tha… thank you" she managed to say.

"My fault, I did not see you coming and I accidentally bumped into you" he said, while he smiled the purest smile she had seen.

She blinked. She could not figure out if this was a dream.

"Don´t worry, I stood up without looking too, so…"

"…it was a matter of time that we both ended up bumping into someone" he finished her sentence. "I´m glad I was at least able to catch you in time" he said, followed by another irresistible, perfect smile.

Rei felt as if she was melting right there.

"Yyyyeah… thanks again" she mumbled

"See you around, night-hair" he said, and exited the café.

Rei did not move an inch. She couldn´t. She was in another world in which the most handsome guy she had ever met had called her night-hair…

"Rei-chan!" she heard someone shouting her name, which snapped her out of her dream state.

She shook her head and followed the direction of the yelling, only to see Minako waving like crazy from the table where they were all sitting. Rei very slowly walked back there and sat again, without saying a word and looking into nothingness.

"What was THAT just now?" Minako said "Who´s the kick-ass guy?"

"Do you know him?" Ami asked

"No, actually I don´t, I just accidentally ran into him when I stood up" Rei responded

"Well you two did look like you had known each other for a lifetime there, you know?" Minako pointed out "That was so awesome!"

"The way he looked at you…ahhh!" Makoto sighed "Reminds me of my boyfriend!"

"You sure were intimate at that moment for not knowing each other!" Usagi exclaimed happily by seeing the reaction this encounter had had in her friend

"I swear you… I will remember if I knew someone like him…" Rei confessed and all the girls giggled. "Bad news is, I think this was a once in a lifetime moment…"

"Aaahhh you don´t know that, do you? Let´s see what destiny has in its bag for you!" Minako responded mysteriously, without noticing the effect the word 'destiny' had had in Usagi, whose smile had faded off her face. She was starting to wander again into her thoughts about destiny and how cruel it was to fix things for people without letting them choose or pursue what they really wanted and loved in life, when she was interrupted by Makoto.

"I am not going to ever get anything to drink, am I?"

And with this, they all laughed out really loud and continued the afternoon joking and chatting.

* * *

Minako arrived home soon after they had said goodbye to each other at Crown´s. She intended to do her homework, and so she had locked herself up in her room leaving out all possible items that could distract her, like the phone, the radio, blank pieces of paper where she could doodle, the laptop, … She was starting to concentrate when suddenly the house´s doorbell rang.

"Oh well this is it! I have tried everything, but I cannot remove the doorbell, can I?" she said out loud. She stood up and went towards the front door, knowing there was no one else at home but her and Artemis, who was sound asleep on a couch in the living room. When she opened the door and saw who was there, she nearly fainted.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" she screamed crazily, took her breath and added "Is it really you?"

Her new idol singer was at her door with two strange looking men, and she could not believe her eyes, her luck and the surprise.

"Good afternoon" he said with his soft silky voice that made all of Minako´s hairs stand "I am looking for Minako Aino, and if I am not mistaken, it´s you, is it?"

"…yyyeeaahhhh…" Minako´s brain was not working properly because of the shock

"Hello Mrs Aino, my name is…"

"I know who you are, Tenbin-san! Can I call you Tenbin-san? Well, I just did, anyways! Ahahahaha!" She interrupted, as nervous as she could get "And please call me Minako!"

"Ok then, Minako-san. These two men are my manager and my personal bodyguard" the popstar said signalling the two men beside him. We would like to talk to you for a second, if you can make it now…"

"Of course! Even if I had to have surgery, I will postpone it to talk to you!" Minako said crazily "But please, come inside, have a seat, a drink, whatever you need!"

"That is very kind of you, thanks" Tenbin responded amused, while he and his two companions entered the house following the excited Minako.

She guided them to the living room where she quickly shooed Artemis away from the couch. She indicated them to sit and rushed to the kitchen to get something for them.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!" She said, returning less than two minutes later with a teapot, some glasses and a dish with chocolate cookies. Tenbin smiled elegantly.

"Thank you Mrs… I mean, Minako-san" he said

"Thanks to YOU for coming to my home! I am like the luckiest person in the entire world!" her words were full of emotion "So how can a pretty lady like me help you?"

"Well, actually we came with a business proposal for you" Tenbin started explaining while he gently poured some tea in one of the glasses "My manager here has decided that it would be great for my career to perform one of my next songs in a duet with a female, and that it would be much more interesting for my fans if it was one of them who debuted with me, you know, someone that is not yet famous but very talented" His amber eyes were piercing right through Minako, who was starting to get histerically happy.

Tenbin continued explaining "We have been going through several recordings of talent auditions that were held lately, saw your performance of last year´s Idol Scouting Caravan, and were totally impressed by it"

Minako´s eyes were shining brightly, and she had her hands together in a sort of praying position. She nodded to every word Tenbin pronounced.

"So we thought" he continued "that you may be interested in an agreement in order for us to record a song together, that is of course if the conditions of the…"

"Yes! Yes! I´m interested, I´m in!" she yelled, without letting him finish the sentence

Tenbin smiled broadly "That is great, Minako-san, I am sure we will make a perfect coupling!" he said while winking an eye at her. Minako was about to fall dead, her dream was becoming true!

After they talked a while more about the conditions of the contract, and agreed to meet several days later at the recording studio, the three men left Minako´s house. As soon as she closed the door, she rushed to get the telephone… she had to tell someone! She dialled Usagi´s house number, but no one answered.

"Where´s this girl? It´s already been a while since we left Crown´s! She should have been home by now…" she said out loud, but was so excited that her worries blew away, and she ran through the house looking for Artemis, to tell him everything that had happened.

* * *

After leaving her friends at the Fruit Parlor Crown, Usagi headed back home, but half way there she decided she would go have a walk. She did not like being home anymore, since when she was there alone, her mind always went to thinking about Mamoru, her, their future… Seiya… She had absent mindedly ended up in the same spot as always… Ichi-no-hashi park, in that same bench in which she had waited to meet Seiya for their first date, when they went to the amusement park. They have had so much fun together on that occasion… She sat there for a while as if she was waiting for him to appear, letting time just pass by, observing at the couples in the park and sighing. When the sun started setting down, she decided to return home.

She was already at the beginning of her street, walking slowly and looking down, when out of the corner of her eye she saw the orange setting sun rays sparkling bright against something several meters ahead of her. She raised her eyes and saw a new shiny bright red sports car, which made here become curious. 'Whoooa… what is a car like that doing in a neighbourhood like mine?' she thought 'Maybe one of my neighbours has won the lottery or something' She looked at the houses to see which one it belonged to exactly, and she was very surprised to find out that the car was parked right in front of her house. She looked at the car again, puzzled, shading her eyes from the sun with her hand to have a clearer vision… and then she saw it.

There was someone leaning against the car, distractedly looking at the ground. His long black hair was tied back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck, and was being softly rocked by the dusk wind. Hands in his pockets and his hip resting on the car, he had the most charming face contour, which she would have recognized anywhere.

"Seiya…" she murmured stopping suddenly, not believing her eyes.

At that moment, as if her whisper had been carried towards him by the breeze, the figure turned around to look at where she was standing. His indigo blue eyes widened first and smiled brightly the moment after. He slowly moved away from the car and stood in the middle of the sidewalk, not moving his eyes from hers.

"Odango" He said, loud enough for her to hear.

She was so astonished she couldn´t even move. She thought she had gone completely crazy and her imagination and desire were playing around with her, because she was seeing things now… it was not possible that Seiya was standing there, at her door… was it?

She was so confused that she got angry with herself for having such a cruel imagination that showed her what she wanted to see most of anything, and tears started forming in her eyes.

Seeing that she did not move, Seiya called her again.

"Odango, it´s me…"

When she heard him again, she quickly raised her face to look at him. That was his voice, there was no mistake. Her body finally reacted. "SEIYA!" she yelled from the bottom of her heart, while starting to run.

She ran as fast as she could the distance that separated them, and when she was close enough she leaped over his open arms, and they both melted together in the tightest hug ever.

"Seiya…Seiya…" Usagi didn´t stop saying while she cried her heart out, her face buried in his chest and her arms very tight around his neck.

"Odango…!" Seiya whispered into her ear. He was wrapping her around completely with his arms, his face pressed to her golden hair so he could smell her sweet scent, which he had insanely longed for. He felt so good that silent joy tears started dripping along his face.

Usagi sobbed wildly, and he tried to soothe her by caressing her back with his hands while he said "I have missed you so much, Odango…"

After several moments of just embracing each other without saying a word, Usagi had calmed down a little and she slowly undid her embrace and separated herself from him just enough to look at his face, which she held in her hands, touching and pinching it as if to verify it was the real thing.

"Is it really you, Seiya? Is this a dream?"

Seiya smiled contented because of her reaction. It was much more than he had expected. He gently took her hands from his face and held them in his, while he answered "It´s me, I swear"

"Seiya! How is this even possible? I am so happy to see you…!"

"Me too…" Seiya was feeling so many emotions he could barely speak

"How are you all? How are things in Kinmoku? How´s the princess? Have you come on a mission or to visit? Is something wrong?"

Seiya chuckled at the ton of questions "Everything is ok, Odango, now it is. It is a long story I have to tell you, and we will even need your help with it, but don´t worry, there are no enemies or anything, just… just a twist in fate"

Usagi tilted her face to the side, not understanding the mysterious words of her friend, but she did not worry, she was so happy just to have him there that she didn´t really care.

"It doesn´t matter why, I´m so glad to have you here…" she confessed in a low voice, looking into his deep blue eyes.

Seiya smiled again, wider. He was bursting with happiness. His Odango really cared for him! He couldn´t help to suddenly embrace her again, to what Usagi reacted laughing cheerfuly.

"Seeeeiiiyaaa! You are going to choke me to death!" She joked, and when he loosened his arms a little, she continued interrogating him "have you all returned?"

"Yes, Taiki and Yaten came along; they are at the new apartment we have rented arranging everything. I just wanted to see you as soon as I could, so I escaped from them for a while" he said, grinning

That was so like Seiya. She was so happy to have him and his wild and cheerful personality back… Usagi smiled broadly, and this time her eyes smiled too.

"The girls are going to be so excited to know you are back…! We could all meet tomorrow if it is ok for you!"

"That would be fantastic. We also want to see you all."

She would have stayed like this forever with him… holding hands and talking about everything… but she realized they had been in the middle of the street for a while now, it was getting dark, and Seiya´s new car was for sure attracting attention, so not wanting him to leave her yet she said "Do you want to come in and have a tea or cake?"

"As much as I would love to, my brothers are going to kill me if I am away for more time today" he said while he smiled and caressed her face with the tips of his fingers. Her skin was so soft and white… his hands so firm and gentle… They both trembled with desire at only this slight contact while they looked at each other, their faces really close and blushing.

Seiya snapped out of this dream state first, and he said "Don´t worry Odango, I am not going far away from you anymore… I´ll call you home later today, so we can arrange where to meet tomorrow, ok? Do you still have the same phone number?"

"mmmhmmm" Usagi muttered, unable to speak after what she had felt under his touch.

He smiled satisfied and said "Ok then, take care, Odango. See you tomorrow!"

"See you…" she echoed while watching him walk towards his car.

"Oh, by the way…" he said before getting inside "I kept my promise to you"

"Huh?" Usagi did not recall any promise

"I never forgot you" He said, directing an irresistible smile at her before disappearing inside the car and driving away really fast.

Usagi´s heart was now going to leap out of her chest. Those last words were more than she could take; she was full of emotions, of feelings for him she had forbidden herself to have and that she could not control anymore.

"Neither did I" she said out loud, to herself.


	7. Reunion

***Hello everyone! I´m back with a new chapter of my story... I hope you like it (and tell me about it!) ^_^ More coming soon... I have sooo much I want to happen to my favorite couple ever...! *** Disclaimer: as usual, I still not own Sailor Moon ;-) ***

CHAPTER 7: REUNION

_America_

Setsuna was meeting Mamoru that sunny Monday morning at the university´s canteen. She couldn´t help but always feel nervous around him… like a teenager about to see her idol. That was totally not like her, always calm and elegant, but she could not control herself when he was around. That morning, she had excitedly got ready dressing up in one of her favourite suits, not too formal but not too casual, and she had applied a little make up on her, smiling satisfied at the resulting image on the mirror.

When she entered the canteen, she spotted Mamoru sitting at a small table alone, distractedly reading a newspaper while chewing on a piece of toast. She unconsciously smiled. He was so handsome and elegant… When she realized where her thoughts were heading her, she shook her head, got a hold of herself and obliged herself to forget about it and act properly, as the assistant of the prince she was. She took a tray and queued up at the self-service breakfast line to grab something to eat.

When she was done, she headed towards where Mamoru was sitting carrying her tray. But suddenly a very strong flash passed through her head. She felt as if she had been struck by a lightning, so strong that she even fell unconscious for just one second, enough for her legs to stop supporting her, and she collapsed down to the floor letting the tray and its content crash around her.

Mamoru was beside her the second it happened, looking at her with worry in his eyes. Lots of other people that were at the canteen circled them to see what had happened.

"Setsuna! Are you ok?" he said in a low voice, just for her

"Mamoru…san…" she whispered back, taking a hold of the arm he was offering her and trying to stand up straight "Yes, I think so. Thank you very much. Oh look at the mess I have caused…"

"Don't worry about it. Just come with me and sit, I will take care of that" Mamoru said, while escorting her to a chair, where he gently helped her to sit. He then went back and helped the canteen assistant to collect all the pieces of broken glass and spilled food while Setsuna observed him gratefully, feeling bad for having him clean up her mess. When that was done, he returned and sat beside Setsuna, took a napkin and cleaned his hands.

"Are you sure you are ok?"

"Yes, I´m fine now. Thank you for your concern… and for cleaning up for me…"

"Not at all Setsuna-san. But what happened to you? Did you faint?"

"No, I just felt a little dizzy for a second. Please do not worry for me, it might still be a slight jet-lag because of the long trip here…" she made up fast in order not to worry him

"All right, but please take proper rest, don´t overdo it. Do you want us to cancel today´s activities? I can manage by myself, if you want to lie down for a bit"

"No! I mean… it is not necessary, really. I´m feeling good now, I will go with you".

And with this, they both finished their breakfast and went to run several errands together. At midday, they bought sandwiches and drinks and had lunch together at a very nice park next to their university, while they enjoyed themselves talking about their careers, their projects and the life at university. It was already well past noon when they returned and said goodbye to each other before going to their corresponding rooms.

As soon as she was alone in her bedroom, Setsuna sighed and smiled at the great day she had had with Mamoru. Then, her face turned serious: it was time for duty. She took out her mobile phone and called home. After three or four tones, a sleepy voice finally responded.

"Yes."

"Haruka? Hello, this is Setsuna" she responded, agitated

"Setsuna?... Do you know what time it is?" she only responded

"Actually, no, but I need to talk to Michiru, is she in?"

"Of course she is in. She is in bed. Early Setsuna, it is early here" Haruka said, annoyed by the wake up call from her friend abroad.

"Sorry to bother you, but please can I talk to her? This is important"

"Yes, yes." Haruka said while handing over the phone to her partner sleeping beside her "Michiru, sweetheart, Setsuna is on the phone. She says it´s kind of important or something…" Setsuna heard Haruka explain.

"Hello? Setsuna?" Michiru´s voice was heard

"Hello Michiru, sorry to wake you up"

"Don´t worry, the alarm clock is about to go off" she said, while Haruka was heard groaning beside her and babbling something about ruining her last precious sleeping minutes. Michiru giggled softly and added "Is something wrong?"

"I am not sure, but I think so… something very strange happened to me a few hours ago" Setsuna told her friend "I felt like a shock through my body, a very strong disruption"

"Disruption? What of?"

"The future"

"What? Do you mean…something is changing? Are we in a new danger perhaps?"

"I am not sure myself but… it was very strong. I had never felt something like this before. I was calling to see if you could check your mirror, maybe you can see something there. I am trying to sense something else but it is all blurred… the future I could see up to now is not showing itself, I am really concerned!"

"Ok, let´s see. I will check my mirror and call you back with what I find out"

"Fine, I may try to visit the Time Gate myself… to try to force a premonition"

"Please take care, Setsuna. I don´t like the idea of you going alone there if there is something going on…"

"Yes, ok. We will keep in contact. Goodbye" and she hung up.

_Japan_

Haruka was now wide awake, and looking at her soulmate with frowned forehead. She had heard all the conversation.

"I don´t like what she said. Does not look good" she stated

"No, it doesn´t. I´d better go wake Hotaru-chan up and arrange her breakfast. As soon as she leaves, we´ll check my mirror" Michiru responded

"Ok, I´ll get ready to drive her to school" Haruka said while standing up and heading towards the bathroom.

* * *

Later that morning, Usagi walked to school feeling happier than she had been for months. She had slept like a little child, and as soon as the alarm clock had gone off, she had remembered again her encounter from the previous evening, and grinning from ear to ear she had jumped off her bed. She was even early at school, which surprised her friends very much.

"Usagi-chan!" Ami was admired by seeing her friend already sitting in the class "I went to pick you up home but your mother told me you had already left… I couldn´t believe it!"

"Yeah, I woke up early today…" Usagi said, her eyes shining while she smiled

"And do you look good today, miss" Minako pointed out "What is it? New make-up? Concealing facial cream? It certainly is not a new hairdo, you always wear the same one!"

"Hey… what´s wrong with my hair? I love my odangoes" she said, pouting, while she secretly remembered last afternoon and Seiya calling her Odango again.

"So what is it then? You look… great!" Minako asked again interrupting Usagi´s sweet memories

"I don´t know, I´m just feeling good today!" Usagi responded evasively. She planned to keep today´s meeting with the Starlights a great surprise for her friends, and so she had told Seiya when he called her last night, but she could not help smiling like an idiot. "Hey, I wanted to meet this afternoon with you all. How about gathering at Rei´s temple after school?"

Seeing that Usagi was proposing a plan for the first time in so much time, they couldn´t deny it, so they all agreed.

"Fine! I´ll call Rei later to tell her we´ll be going there right after school!" Minako offered

"Great" Usagi smiled again, her plan was running smoothly

During the pause for lunch, Usagi disappeared for a while and went to call Seiya to tell him how they were meeting that afternoon. She was as excited as she could get.

"Hello?" his voice sounded like music

"Hi…Se…Seiya?" Usagi responded, feeling really nervous. It was the first time she had called him.

"Hi Odango" his smile could almost be heard in his words "How´s school?"

"Well you know… Monday… but I am so looking forward for this afternoon that I am not even noticing! She said giggling. Seiya laughed too, contented

"So how are we meeting?"

"At Rei´s temple, Hikawa shrine. We´ll be there right after school, so don´t be late! I don´t think I can keep this secret for myself any longer… It´s going to be the best surprise ever!"

"We´ll be there… YOU are the one always arriving late, not us!" Seiya teased her

She smiled. She had to admit she loved being teased by him.

"It was a mistake with the bus!" she responded happily

"Yeah, yeah…Ok then, see you in a while, Odango!" and with this he hang up

Usagi grinned, put away her mobile phone and went to where her friends were having lunch.

"Usagi! Where were you? We have looked for you everywhere!" Makoto asked

"Mmm, had to do something" She said, while opening her meal box and eating its content really fast, to make it in time before class started again.

"My... are you mysterious today…" Ami stated

* * *

_Starlights' new apartment_

"Well, it looks habitable now" Yaten said, putting in place one last cushion "Not thanks to you, Seiya, but it´s finally done".

"Aw come on, don´t be such a pain Yaten… I was only out for a while yesterday afternoon" Seiya replied to his comment

"Yeah yeah… and the rest of the time you were actually here, you were so absent minded singing around that you have been more a nuisance than any help at all…"

"Well sorry Mr Yaten for feeling happy…"

"Don´t start again you two, please" Taiki said, ending the discussion "So, are we meeting the girls today?"

Seiya smiled with anticipation "We are indeed… thanks to ME that offered to go and arrange everything" Seiya responded, directing a look at Yaten, who turned his face

"Well, you would have gone anyways…" Taiki pointed out, smiling

"That´s true, brother" Seiya admitted "We are meeting them this afternoon, at the Hikawa shrine… You know… I am so glad to see her again… Aren´t you guys looking forward to it too?"

"Yes, it will be nice" Taiki plainly said

"That´s it? Nice? I expected more of you, Taiki, seeing how well you understood each other with Mizuno-san…" Seiya teased, smirking

"I have no idea what you are trying to suggest. I find Mizuno-san a very interesting person, and I hope she would help us with our research, but that´s all"

"Of course, of course. And what about you, Yaten?"

"Huh?" Yaten just said, from his lying position along the couch

"Don´t you look forward to seeing a certain blonde again?"

"That crazy noisy popstar-addict? Are you kidding me?" Yaten said looking annoyed

"Yes, that one exactly" Seiya responded, not believing Yaten´s act and then told them "I am sure you are both quite excited about this, you are not fooling me!" he said, while he disappeared into his room to get ready for their meeting.

* * *

After school, the four girls went to the shrine where Rei was waiting for them with some fresh lemonade and chocolate cookies. They made themselves at home and were chatting lively when a knock in the door interrupted them.

"What is it, grandpa?" Rei asked without even standing from her sitting place. No one responded, so she insisted "Grandpa? … Grandpaaaaa! ... My…this man is getting deafer every moment…" she muttered, annoyed, while standing up to open the door after not receiving any answer for the third time.

Then, she opened the door and froze. Her eyes were showing her an image she could not believe. Seeing that she was not moving even a hair, Ami asked.

"What is it, Rei?"

Rei did not answer, just moved to one side and fully opened the door, showing the three masculine and handsome figures they all knew so well. They were all completely astonished, their mouths open and their eyes wide staring at them.

Usagi started laughing like crazy, rolling over the floor.

"AHAHAHAHAAA! You should see your faces! Isn´t it one of the best surprises ever? HAHAHAHHAA!"

The Starlights sweatdropped at the image of the rolling Usagi.

"Good afternoon. Long time no see" Taiki said first, formally.

Minako passed from stunned to excited in less than a second, her eyes started sparkling and her breath accelerating until suddenly she jumped up and ran to hug Yaten, who was caught off guard.

"Yaten!" she cried out loud. Seeing the yellow thunder that approached them, Taiki and Seiya moved slightly out of the way, but Minako caught Yaten in her arms, and they both fell down to the floor due to the big impact of Minako´s hug. She continued hugging him and laughing like crazy while on the floor, until Ami walked to where they were and pulled Minako up and away from the poor boy.

"Enough Minako! You are going to scare them!" She then turned to face Taiki and added shyly "Welcome back. It was a great surprise indeed. A pleasure to have you back" and she smiled sweetly.

"So, how have you all been? We have missed you girls, really!" Seiya said informally, while he came into the room and sat in between Usagi and Makoto, taking one of the cookies on the table.

"We have been doing great" Makoto responded smiling "Everything has been peaceful and calm"

While saying this, they all sat down around the table, and Rei brought some more glasses so they could all taste the lemonade.

"That´s great news, we´re glad" Taiki answered

"How about you? How´s your planet and the princess doing?" Ami asked interested

"We worked on it very hard, and now it´s all restored and people are happily living there again"

"That´s fantastic"

They continued talking for a while more about their home planet and explaining how things had been for the last year, while Seiya teased Usagi by gently pulling her hair or grabbing first the cookie she was going to get, to what she always reacted pouting at him and they both silently laughed. From the outside, they looked like a happy couple in love, and while listening to the stories Taiki and Yaten were telling them, the girls noticed this.

After a while, Taiki turned more serious and said

"Listen, we have to tell you something important about us and why we have come here to look for your help"

The five girls were suddenly silent, noticing how important this was by the seriousness in Taiki´s voice, and therefore paying all of their attention to what he had to tell them.

"Apparently, we are not Princess Kakuyuu´s senshi in the same way that you girls are Usagi´s" he started, and continued telling them all that Kakuyuu had told them back at their home planet several weeks ago. When he finished, they were all stunned. Usagi was looking at Seiya with concern, trying to figure out how her dear friend felt about this new discovery about his life, but he smiled back at her as reassurance while he secretly took her hand in his and pressed it, to transmit her that everything was ok with him.

"Senshi of the Stars…" Ami said thinking out loud

"It looks like it, yes" Taiki responded, smiling slightly

"It sure suits you well" Rei said and they all smiled at this comment

"So, since our princess did not know much more about this, Taiki´s idea was to come and ask you girls for help…" Yaten added

"Yes!" Minako responded excited "I will help you with all you need, Yaten!" she said, holding his arm while he tried to escape her embrace.

"And how can we help you exactly?" Ami added, looking at Taiki

"Well, we know your research capabilities are much higher than the ones we had back in our planet, and you have had contact with people around space and time that may be able to help us know more about ourselves" Taiki responded

"I see…"

"This is very important for us. Right now, we do not know who we are, where do we come from or what we are supposed to do. It is making us feel quite uneasy. As you would understand, any help you could lend us would be much appreciated" Taiki argumented

Ami nodded and said "Of course. Knowledge is the base of everything"

"Exactly" Taiki smiled at the blue-haired girl´s comprehension

"For sure Ami-chan is the best one of us to help you with this." Makoto said, both because it was true and because she saw the smiles coming and going between both of them.

"I´ll be glad to help you, we can meet whenever you like to start with it. Fortunately, even though we have our final exams coming soon, I have been preparing them thoroughly and I am ahead of schedule, which leaves me with some spare time to help you with this" Ami said while her friends sweatdropped at how different Ami was from them, which had of course much more to study for the exams and not that much time left.

"Perfect, I´ll call you so we can meet" Taiki setted

They all started to stand up and get their things to leave, when Minako suddenly said

"By the way! Please pay attention everyone because you are assisting to the birth of a star!"

They all looked at her not having a clue what she was talking about.

"I have been targeted by the superfamous popstar Tenbin and I have been chosen to sing a song with him for his new album! I am finally going to be a famous singer! Yayyyyyy!" She announced dramatically

"Oh Minako that´s fantastic!" Makoto said and they all congratulated her excitedly

"I am going to be a star just like you, Yaten-chan!" she said clinging to Yaten´s arm, who looked at her exhausted. "Be careful with me, I may end up being more famous than you!" She teased, and everyone laughed.

Taking advantage of all the shouting and laughing happening around them, Seiya slowly walked to where Usagi was and stood right behind her, at a very close distance. He bent his neck until his lips were at the height of Usagi´s ear, nearly touching it, and he softly said in a voice so low it was only audible for her "I want to see you again, Odango. Just you and me alone. Tomorrow."

Usagi´s complete body shuddered with delight when she felt his breath on her nape and she realized how close his lips were from her skin… his words did not help, they just enhanced what she was feeling for him, for having him so close. She could not respond, she could not even turn around to face him… her face had turned totally crimson. So she just nodded slightly, and she heard him sigh a contented laugh and say "Great. Call you later"

This moment lasted just a few seconds, after which Seiya backed himself up a little away from her and went to congratulate Minako himself, but for Usagi it had been as if time had stopped and that intimate moment had lasted for days. She had enjoyed those seconds so much that she could not look forward enough for them meeting again the next day.


	8. Disruption

*** Hello all! New chapter posted, hope you like it! Thanks for your very supportive follows, favorites and reviews, they are really encouraging!***

***Disclaimer: no, I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its original characters. I´d love to so I could end it my way, though... ***

CHAPTER 8 – DISRUPTION

_Japan_

After Setsuna´s call, Michiru had tried looking into her Deep Aqua Mirror to try to see if it revealed her what had caused her friend to feel that shock. She had performed the ritual as she always did, in a completely dark room with absolutely no noise and only Haruka´s recomforting presence with her sitting on a chair nearby, arms crossed and looking at her lover intensely while she concentrated. But nothing was being shown. Nothing at all. After several tries, she was giving up.

"Nothing!" She said frustrated "Nothing again!"

"Don´t be upset, Michiru, this must have a reasonable explanation…" Haruka conforted her

"Like which one? This is the first time my mirror does not show anything. I have seen disturbances or blurry images before, but now it is just darkness. That cannot be… there is always a truth to show for everything that happens. I´m starting to worry too, Haruka…"

Haruka stood up and walked towards her, kissing her forehead before sitting. "Maybe it´s nothing… we are not sure yet. And if it is, we´ll deal with whatever the problem is, like we have always done. As long as we are together, everything will be fine"

"Mmm… I was kind of enjoying our new family life without battles, you and me living together, taking care of Hotaru-chan, having my time to enjoy painting and playing the violin…"

"No one is taking any of that away from you, I promise. We´ll just solve this problem and continue with our lives, my love. Don´t you worry please" Haruka said softly while tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Should we tell Usagi and the girls about this?" Michiru asked, taking Haruka´s hand in hers and looking at her with concerned eyes

"I don´t think so, at least not for the moment. They will all get preoccupied with no reason, and it will bother their lives. And I am afraid Koneko-chan is not having a good time now, with her boyfriend far away from her again, so it will not do any good to her to worry more. And we don´t even have anything to tell them yet, do we?"

"That´s true… we´d better find out what the problem is first. Maybe we can even solve it without them knowing, so she doesn´t have to worry for nothing… I´ll call Setsuna to tell her the news" Michiru said, picking up the phone while Haruka opened the curtains to let some light into the room. After a few seconds, Michiru said "She´s not answering. What time is it there?"

"No idea" said Haruka "Try calling her a little later, maybe she´s out"

* * *

_America_

The next morning Mamoru and Setsuna had agreed on meeting at 9 for breakfast before going to look for an apartment for Mamoru, who wanted some more intimacy than one of the university´s rooms for students. It was already past 11 when Mamoru, worried for his companion, had finished breakfast alone and had headed to Setsuna´s room to check on her, because she had not yet appeared.

He gently knocked on Setsuna´s door "Setsuna-san? Are you in?"

No answer came from inside, so he knocked harder "Setsuna-san, it´s Mamoru, is everything allright?" Nothing. He became more worried, he knew she would not have gone anywhere without telling him first because they had agreed to meet, and Setsuna would never stand anyone up. And also there was her dismay from last morning… He tried the door but it was closed from the inside, so he took several steps back, and with a fast and sharp blow of his forearm, he broke the door open.

The first thing he saw was a cascade of silky, long, dark-green hair on the floor. Setsuna was lying unconscious in the middle of her room, wearing her sailor suit and holding tight her Garnet Rod with one hand. Mamoru was shocked; he did not understand what had happened there and why she had transformed. He ran to her, closing the door behind him not to reveal Sailor Pluto´s identity to anyone, and kneeled beside her to raise her up enough to turn her around and lay her head in his legs.

He checked her pulse. Thank God, she was alive. He shook her a little and called her name softly, until she finally started to stir and moan. He sighed relieved and then smiled when she slowly opened her eyes.

"Ma…mo…ru…san…?" she muttered, still dizzy. Was it a dream, waking up and seeing first thing that unforgettable smile of his?

"shhhh don´t overdo it" he recommended while brushing her bangs off her sweaty face to uncover her garnet eyes.

Setsuna´s dark cheek skin was seen blushing slightly.

"What has happened?" she managed to ask

"I was going to ask you the same question. You did not show up for breakfast so I got worried and came to check if everything was allright…and apparently it was not" he smiled a sad smile

"Sorry… I did not mean to make you wait or worry for me…"

"Come on Setsuna, don´t apologize. First thing is you, I am worried about you. Why have you transformed?"

She sat up a little, just enough to look at her senshi clothes. "Well…this was…I wanted to check something" she said evasively, not wanting to worry him further.

Mamoru noticed her attitude and did not ask anymore "allright, let´s get you standing up" he added, while passing an arm around her back to hold her while she tried to stand.

Setsuna forced herself to move, but her legs trembled and were not responding yet. Seeing this, Mamoru passed his free arm behind her knees and with little effort he raised her up from the floor bridal-style. When he was up straight holding her, their gazes crossed and they both realized how they should be looking from the outside. Suddenly, they both looked away uncomfortablly and Mamoru carried her to lay her on bed.

"Thank…you…" she muttered not daring to look him in the eyes after the contact they had had

"Don´t worry. Are you better now?"

"Yes, I´m fine"

"Ok, I´ll leave you here so you can rest, and come back to see you again in the afternoon, if it is ok for you."

Setsuna nodded and smiled at him seeing how caring he was with her.

"And then perhaps, if you have calmed down a little, you can tell me what all this was about" he added, troubled about what he had seen

"Sure" she answered, smiling and looking down

"Ok then. See you later. Please rest" he said, while exiting her room and closing the door.

As soon as he left, Setsuna detransformed from her senshi appearance and checked herself for any other injuries. She had the greatest hedache but apparently no other harm on her. What she had experienced had been very tough and dangerours, she had to tell her friends as soon as possible.

She stretched her arm to reach her handbag, took out her mobile phone and saw 7 lost calls from home. They were worried for her too. She dialled their number.

"Hello?"

"Haruka, it´s Setsuna"

"Setsuna thank Lord. What are you up to with your phone? We have called you a bazillion times, we were worried here!"

Setsuna smiled, she truly had good friends around her "Yes, sorry. I actually had some trouble here I wanted to tell you about"

"You did? Oh I knew this!" Haruka was angry with herself "It did not sound as a good idea at all; we never should have let you go alone to the Time Gate… Hang on, I´ll put the loudspeaker on so Michiru can hear you too"

Several creaks and beeps later, another voice was heard

"Hello Setsuna, what´s the matter?" Michiru´s musical voice said "Are you ok?"

"I think so…" she answered tentatively "I had some problems when visiting the Time Gate"

"I knew it…I knew it!" Haruka was heard again grumbling in the background

"What happened?" Michiru asked

"Well, I transformed and travelled to the Time Gate, to check on the disruption I felt from the future, since I was not sensing anything from here. When I arrived there…" she stopped, swallowed at recalling the memory, and continued "Everything was chaos"

"What do you mean?" Haruka said, from the other side of the line

"It was not as it usually is… the door was surrounded by dark clouds and there was lightstrikes here and there, like thunder, and the air was dense and barely breathable. I walked towards the door and tried to open it, when suddenly it burst open by itself and a huge mass of pure white light rushed out of it and stroke me so hard I lost conscience. The next thing I know is I woke up in my room..."

"Oh no… are you sure you are ok, Setsuna?" Haruka asked

"Apparently yes. I have this huge headache and I am feeling very weak, but I think that is all"

"At least you are fine" Michiru said and added "and about the future? Did you see something?"

"Nothing. It was first all darkness and then the purest light bursting in. But no images, no information,… nothing. It is as if something or someone was covering up the future so we could not see it, but I do not know of anyone with such a power. What about you?"

"Same thing. My mirror is dark, completely dark. Nothing is shown. This is the first time this has happened to me. We are worried, Setsuna" Michiru confessed

"What should we do?" Haruka asked

"We cannot do anything else for now regarding the visions of the future… Michiru, you can check your mirror periodically to see if something changes, that is safe to do. And for the time being, I think our priority should be the same as always…protect our princess. Just in case."

"Ok then, we´ll go make a visit to Koneko-chan tomorrow, to see how she´s doing" Haruka decided.

"Setsuna…we´ll take care of her. Don´t worry. I think you´d better stay there and continue with your life as if nothing had happened. If you suddenly return, everyone will start suspecting. And also, you can keep an eye on the prince, in case something happens and he needs your help" Michiru said

"By the way…when I woke up in my room as Sailor Pluto… I was not alone. Mamoru had come to see if something was wrong because I had gone missing. I am going to have to explain something to him later today; he will want to know…"

"I see…" Michiru responded "Just make something up which doesn´t sound too alarming"

"Ok, I´ll do that. Please call me if anything goes wrong and I´ll be right there. And take care of Hotaru, too" Setsuna said.

"Don´t worry, we will" Haruka firmly responded.

* * *

_Japan_

Usagi spent all the next day as nervous as a kid on Christmas night. Her friends were terribly excited for having the Starlights back, and were talking all the time about last afternoon, commenting how they looked, how they acted, the story they had told them… even Ami was strangely talkative, evidently looking forward to meeting Taiki for research, which made all the girls giggle at noticing it. Every time someone mentioned Seiya, Usagi blushed furiously and looked down trying to hide from her face the emotion she was feeling for the date she will be having with him that afternoon.

After school, she avoided her friends and their questions as she could and practically ran home. She changed clothes, to wear a three-quarter sleeve turquoise spring dress she had bought a while ago but had not had the chance yet to wear. She hummed happily while getting ready and looked at herself in the mirror before leaving the house. She liked what she saw: the dress suited her perfectly, and her eyes shone as bright as ever.

She was early at their meeting spot. Once again, they were meeting at that same bench in Ichi-no-Hashi park. He had proposed the place, so that meant he still remembered about their date a year ago… Usagi´s heart was racing. She had sat in that bench alone lots of times during this last year, but this time the wait was going to be worth it… he was going to finally appear.

And he did. She saw him from far away, coming towards her with his elegant steps, wearing an informal pair of jeans and a shirt, and complementing it as always with his dark sunglasses that made him look so sexy…

"Hello Odango" he looked so genuinely happy to see her, that she couldn´t help returning him the broadest smile. "You sure were on time today! See to believe!" he said, theatrically surprised

Usagi pouted and responded "It was YOU who arrived late last time we met here!"

Seiya smiled, satisfied to know she had not forgotten about that day more than a year ago which he vividly remembered too, and taking off his sunglasses and looking at her directly in the eyes from a very short distance teased back "That was because I had to avoid the gangs of girls crazy for me pursuing me around, just to be with you…"

Usagi was speechless, how come he always had this power over her? She was about to respond when she felt the heat coming up to her cheeks, so in order for him not to notice, she just walked past him while saying "Humpf! Don´t think they were that many…"

Seiya grinned…he loved when she became jealous.

Seeing that he wasn´t following, she turned around "So! Are we going somewhere?"

"Of course" he smiled, walked towards her and passed one of his arms around her neck, gently pushing her forward to follow his path "I´m taking you to the cutest café ever."

And sure it was. It was a terrace next to a pond, with cozy white tables and matching chairs where couples enjoyed the cool breeze that gently rocked the trees while having something to drink and whispered love promises to each other. There were flowers everywhere and their sweet scent could be smelt in the air. It was the perfect scenery for a date, and Usagi loved the place.

"Whoaaaa" she couldn´t help exclaiming "What a cute place! I did not know this existed!"

"Love you like it, Odango. I thought of bringing you here since my first time on Earth, but I did not have the occasion then."

She looked at him and smiled thankfully. He was always so attentive with her…

They both then sat down at one of the tables closest to the pond, and ordered two big ice-cream cups. They remained silent for some seconds, during which Usagi timidly looked at the reflection of the sun in the water, not daring to look at his eyes.

"You sure look beautiful in that dress…" he commented, looking at her "Is it new?"

She nodded, as shy as she could get.

Seiya smiled happily and continued "So… how have you been all this time?"

"Fine… all has been good and peaceful here" Usagi said, smiling a little, but with gloomy eyes.

Seiya noticed it and said "Yes, I know that, but how have YOU been" he said, emphasizing the word 'you'.

"Fine, too" she unconsciously started turning around in her finger the ring Mamoru had given her the first time he left her. He raised an eyebrow, not believing her act.

"How´s your boyfriend?" Seiya as usual, asked directly

Usagi looked down "Good… he´s left to study abroad" she responded with a sad tone to her voice. She couldn´t help but to tell him the truth. "It was his dream" she added, as if trying to justify her boyfriend´s decision.

Seiya frowned. Now he understood the melancholic look he had seen in Usagi. He was making her suffer again. Why didn´t that jerk see how fortunate he was for having her and stopped making her feel miserable?

"That´s not nice of him at all" he stated suddenly, very serious

"Huh?" Usagi was shocked by his comment

"Before I left... he told me he would protect you, and now I come back here and find out he has not kept his word? That´s definitely not good… no, no, no…" he said while shaking his head disapprovingly, and suddenly added "I will have to do it myself, then! I´ll have to take up my job as your bodyguard once again!" jokingly giving himself importance. He just wanted to make her laugh, he hated to see that sad look in her face.

Usagi was astonished. She couldn´t believe how he acted around her. Suddenly, she exploded in a loud laugh, she was feeling so well! How come she had felt so wretched for so long and with just a sentence he had made her feel so good, so at home, so taken care of, so alive…

"Should I interpret your crazy guffaws as a 'yes of course, Seiya-sama, please take care of poor weak me and I will be grateful forever'?" he said, poorly imitating her voice

"Yes, yes" she said, in between laughs, almost unable to speak

"I love to see you laugh, Odango. Please don´t be sad anymore" he added, looking at her with concerned eyes and briefly taking one of her hands in his.

"Ok, Seiya" she told him, smiling with shiny eyes and looking at his. She always got lost when he looked at her like that, but then she remembered why he was here and why they had all returned and asked "By the way… I wanted to ask you about what Taiki told us yesterday… how are you feeling about it? Are you ok?"

"Well…" Seiya responded while leaning back in his chair "it was quite a shock, that´s for sure… all that we have known and believed and fought for was not completely true... but when you think of it calmly, nothing has changed, really"

"What do you mean?"

"Someone very beautiful told me once that you have to fight for those who are important for you…"

Usagi blushed when she heard her own words coming from Seiya.

"So actually, that´s what we have always been doing." Seiya continued "We have fought for Kakuyuu, who is a very important person for us even though we now know she is not really our princess… and... we fought for you…" he left the sentence unfinished, there was no need to do so.

"Seiya…"

"So from my side, I´m going to continue being true to myself, and always protect the ones I love, it doesn´t matter who I am."

Usagi smiled, she was very satisfied with his answer.

"I´m happy for you, Seiya. I´m happy to have you by my side."

"That is not going to change anymore Odango. I am also happy just to be by your side, knowing you are happy and safe" he smiled his incredible smile at her, and she blushed, feeling as good as ever.

They enjoyed the rest of the afternoon talking and joking about this and that, and eating not one but two humongous ice-creams, which Usagi enjoyed very much. It felt as he had never left, they acted like the best friends ever, both of them so confortablly enjoying themselves together. After spending a pair of hours at the café that passed without them even noticing, Seiya offered to walk her home. It was a warm afternoon, and it was a very pleasant walk during which they never stopped talking and teasing each other playfully. Seiya told her that the Starlights were planning to start their career as singers again, not because they were looking for someone anymore but because the three of them enjoyed music very much, since it was the best way they had for expressing themselves and their feelings, and also the job they all performed the best.

"I so look forward to hearing you sing again! I loved it veeeery much" Usagi commented joyfully, while they reached her house

"Thanks, Odango" he responded happily, stopping to face her "This time be sure I will be singing for the right person, the only one I truly care for"

She blushed, understanding what he meant. Then, with a very affectionate move of his hand he gently cleared her forehead, her bangs slipping through his fingers. She saw him leaning towards her, and she started shaking nervously… she didn´t know what was going to happen but it was such a dangerous situation! Her face turned redder and redder, and sweat drops started forming on her hairline, but she could not move…she was totally paralyzed by his way of looking at her, so deep… He kept coming closer and closer but she was not moving away.

'Why am I not moving?!' she thought to herself. 'He´s too close! And he keeps coming closer; his lips are so close to me!' She realized that it was not only that she couldn´t move but that she really didn´t want to… her body didn´t allow her to move! She wanted whatever it was going to happen so badly… she closed her eyes and surrendered to her heart´s desire.

She was about to faint with anticipation when she felt his lips against her forehead. The sweetest kiss ever, the most perfect lips so warm against her skin...

He backed off and smiled while he said "See you, Odango"

She did not know what to say or how to act. She was crimson red, and she knew he had noticed how nervous she was. She had thought he was going to kiss her and the worst thing was… she wanted it to happen so much! She was half angry, half frustrated, and completely wishing him to stay by her side forever. She could not control what she was feeling for him anymore, all the skin-deep sensations he made her have. And he had noticed for sure, that was bad.

When he started walking away from her, she couldn´t hold herself from asking out loud "Am I going to see you again soon?"

It sounded more like begging than anything. Great, now for sure he knew how she was feeling. That was about it with trying to cover it up and pretending it was not like that. But she realized she didn´t care…she wanted to see him, to be with him as much time as she could. She did not want to loose him again. He made her feel so good…

He turned around, showing her his irresistible smile and said "Of course, I have to protect you, remember? I´ll never be far away from you again."

She took in a deep breath in relief. She realized she hadn´t been breathing for a while now.

"Thanks, Seiya"

"Please don´t thank me. It´s my pleasure to be by your side." He said, and while turning around again to leave, he added "You know? I really do not understand how it is possible that any man´s dream is any other than being by your side forever."

She froze where she was, her heart about to explode with beating so hard. She couldn´t say anything, she just looked at him with her watery eyes expressing so much feelings for him. He looked back at her, smiled and said "I´ll call you. Take care!" while he walked away.

Usagi was so astonished… she did not move an inch from where she was, watching him leave until she could not see him anymore while silent tears slipped through her face. He truly loved her, she saw it clearly now… he probably loved her, she thought, more than anyone had loved her before. She touched the spot in her forehead where he had kissed her, right where her crescent moon appeared when she transformed, and she felt a tingle across her body. She slowly turned around and walked the small distance left to her house, while lost in her thoughts and smiling broadly.

* * *

When she was almost there, she saw another flamboyant sports car parked at her door; this time it was of a fury yellow. 'What´s with the amazing cars at my door lately?' she thought to herself half smiling: she already knew who this car belonged to.

"Haruka-san! Michiru-san!" she cheerfully said when she spotted the two mature-looking girls beside the car. They turned to face her and greeted her happily.

"Yo, Koneko-chan, how are you doing?" Haruka said, caringly

"You sure look good!" Michiru pointed out, seeing Usagi´s still rosy skin

"mmm… yes, I´m great, thanks! What are you doing around here?"

"Ah, you know, we had to go somewhere near here and we thought of stopping by to say hello, but there was no one at home…" Haruka made up

"And you even waited for me to come back? How nice of you"

"Yeah…." Haruka said, avoiding Michiru´s glare at how bad her lover was dissimulating "Would you like a drink? We could go somewhere to get one, if you have time" she added

"Yes! That would be great, it´s been a long time since we last saw each other!" Usagi accepted joyfully.

The three friends walked to a café nearby and ordered some drinks. Michiru broke the ice talking about a concert she will soon be performing, and after a while they were all silent again. It was quite obvious that something was going on, but the couple was not sure how to come up with it.

"What?" Usagi finally said, feeling observed

"Well…Koneko-chan…we wanted to ask you how are you feeling lately…since…since Mamoru-san is away and so on…" Haruka responded

"I´m fine" she plainly said, her smile disappearing a little

"Have you had news about him?" Michiru asked

"Yes… he called when he arrived at America, to tell me everything went well"

"That´s great" she said, smiling slightly

"mmm" she muttered. She did not want to tell them that that had been all. In several weeks he had not called her once again. "How´s Setsuna-san?" she then asked, changing topics. She did not want to think about him right now.

"Ah! She´s doing fine as well." Haruka answered, surprised by the question and trying not to think of the problem her friend had had in order Usagi not to notice they were worried "She calls every now and then… she´s helping Mamoru-san in everything she can"

"That´s good…" Usagi responded, gloomily.

Noticing this, Michiru tried to cheer her up "And what have you been up to lately? You did look really happy before when we came across!"

Usagi´s eyes widened and she blushed a little… she had been caught! She hoped they had not noticed it, because she continuously had the sensation that her feelings for Seiya were written all over her face!

"Ahahahahaaa" she laughed nervously while scratching her head "Well, we have had a much unexpected visit which was a really big surprise!"

Haruka and Michiru looked at each other interrogatively and then back at their younger friend. They did not have a clue what she was talking about.

"But please don´t get angry or be mean. You have to promise me!" Usagi added

Now they were worried as well as extremely curious.

"What is it, Koneko-chan?"

"Well… the Starlights have returned!" she announced with a smile

A thick silence surrounded them… birds could be heard singing, the wind blowing in between the branches of the trees…

"…ehmm…Haruka-san? Michiru-san?..." Usagi was worried about their reaction. They were completely stunned "Isn´t it great?" she added

Looking down and rising and eyebrow, Haruka responded "Well, I will not exactly describe it as great, you know…"

Michiru reacted and giggled elegantly at her lover´s reply.

"I know you have had your differences, but they are very good friends and important people to me! They helped us so much back then…!" Usagi explained

"Yes, of course Usagi. We are glad." Michiru said politely

"You are going to be nice to them, are you?"

Michiru nodded. Haruka was still looking down with her arms crossed.

"Haruka-saaaaaan pleaaaaase" Usagi insisted childishly, pouting and looking at her masculine friend with glassy eyes

"Yes, yes… we will be nice" she surrendered and added "How could we not be, after all they protected you when we couldn´t anymore… we even owe them that"

Usagi smiled happily and jumped across the table to hug both their friends at one time, almost dropping all the drinks. "Thank you girls!" She shouted. They were all very important to her and she wanted them to get along.

* * *

After leaving Usagi at home, Haruka and Michiru drove off.

"So…? You have promised to be good with the Starlights?" Michiru teased her partner "I am so looking forward to witnessing that encounter…!" she chuckled

"Come on, Michiru…don´t make it harder on me" Haruka said with trembling eyebrow

"The truth is, she is always very happy when around him" she pointed out, both of them knowing who 'him' exactly was. "Even when just talking about him, she shines. She really cares for him, that´s obvious…"

"Yes…" Haruka agreed seriously "And he will always fight for her and protect her at any cost..."

"Anyways… it was strange. I did not feel them coming" Michiru added

"Yes… I´m wondering if perhaps their arrival will have something to do with all this mayhem with the future" Haruka thought out loud, with worry in her voice

"Mmmm… I have thought about it too. It´s quite a coincidence they have returned right when this is happening, is it?"

"That´s what worries me… maybe it is not a coincidence. The future being messed up and totally blackened out when they come back?... I don´t know…"

"Do you think they have caused that?"

"It´s a possibility. Maybe they have caused it somehow without knowing it, or maybe they have been followed by an enemy, or maybe… their presence is changing the future"

"Wait, are you thinking… Seiya and Usagi?" Michiru ventured to ask

"Maybe…" Haruka plainly said.


	9. Investigation

***Ohayô minna! I´m back with a new chapter! Very big thanks for your fantastic reviews and follows to my story, you are all so nice! I´m keeping in mind all of your suggestions ;) Hope you like this one too!***

***Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, but I would love it to end just like this story!***

_Japan_

Rei had spent the afternoon with the shrine´s chores… her grandpa was not as agile anymore, and so she had much more to do around. She kept complaining about this, telling her grandpa that they should hire someone else so she could have more free time in the afternoons to study and hang around with her friends, since she felt she was spending more time everyday at the shrine. She was now sweeping the entrance, which gave her a lot of time to think while performing the task.

'Wow…the Starlights are back! They always look so cool and handsome… Mah, not much of a difference in my life though, it´s not like they were ever interested in me at all… Minako is all over them, especially Yaten, and with her crazy personality she attracts all the attention…Taiki is so obviously interested in Ami-chan and viceversa, even though they don´t admit it, or maybe they don´t know themselves, it´s kind of cute. And Seiya… well, that´s a dangerous topic. He is still completely in love with Usagi! I can´t believe she still doesn´t see it! Everyone can! The other day when we met them… they both acted like a couple. The way they played together and looked at each other… maybe… is it possible that Usagi´s feelings are changing? That can´t be! I have to talk to this girl; I may go see her tomorrow afternoon or something…Usagi must remember that she has Mamoru-san and Chibiusa and a bright future she has to accomplish! They have to be stopped, before it´s too late… they are really into each other… and Makoto and her new boyfriend, all cheesy all the time….AAaaahhh what am I doing wrong? All my friends have found love! How come no one is ever interested in me? At this rate, I´ll never be loved by anyone…"

Her chain of thoughts was interrupted by someone.

"Excuse me…"

Rei had not noticed, so deep was her in her thoughts, so she kept sweeping and sweeping harder and faster every time, looking at the floor and groaning for herself about never finding love, when suddenly she accidentally swept over someone´s shoes, leaving them all dirty.

"Oh dear! I´m terribly sorry!" She said, rising her face to look at the owner of the former clean elegant shoes. She was shocked to death when she saw the person replying to her look.

"What a surprise, night-hair" the man said

There was him again. The super-handsome man she had bumped into at Crown´s. She could not believe her eyes.

"….Eh…hello again…" she managed to say, a timid smile appearing at the corners of her lips

"So you are a miko? Suits you very much…" He commented, killing her with a smile

"Yes…" she responded automatically, stopping to look at herself on her miko clothes, all messy from working around. She quickly arranged her hair a little, trying to look nice, and ventured to say "I´m really sorry about your shoes, I did not notice you were here… would you like to come in? I can get a damp cloth and clean them a little…" she said, expecting so much he accepted.

"It´s fine, don´t worry about them…" he said, and Rei´s face turned sad

"But I would gratefully accept a glass of water if you would be so kind. You have a hell of a long staircase up here!" he joked, and Rei smiled from ear to ear

"Of course! Please come with me!"

He then followed Rei inside, and she asked him to sit at the living room while she went to the kitchen to find something to drink. She returned a little later with two ice-tea cans.

"I thought of ice-tea better than water, if you prefer" she said, shyly sitting in front of him

"That´s great, thank you" he responded while pouring the content of the can into a glass full of ice that Rei had brought "It may be about time we presented ourselves, right? Since it looks like we are going to keep bumping into each other around town" he said half smiling

Rei chuckled at his comment "My name is Rei, nice to meet you" she said while extending her hand for him to shake

Instead, he grabbed her hand in his, gracefully turned it around and kissed its top delicately. Rei felt like a wave across her body with his touch, and blushed furiously at this action that remembered her so much of the romantic movies.

"My name is Oodachi. Very nice to meet you again"

"Oodachi…" she echoed, stunned

"So, do you work here part-time? If it is ok for me to ask…" he said politely starting a conversation.

"Well, I actually live here…this temple has always been run by my family, and now that my grandfather is getting older I am working here during my free time…" she explained, happy to have a conversation with such a handsome boy.

"Oh, so you are the main priestess then! That´s incredible!"

She blushed again at the compliment while she nodded shyly.

"By the way! Did you come for something in particular? How can I help you?" Rei asked, realizing that he probably came to the temple looking for something.

"As a matter of fact, I´m new here. I came from a small town to the city to start my university studies next September. I´m into Shinto religion and I wanted to buy some charms for my new house, which is quite near here"

"Oh! That´s why I had never seen you around before!"

"We may see each other more starting today, since you live here…" he added, and Rei smiled and nodded

"I´m around most of the afternoons attending people. I also perform fire-readings if you are interested some time…" she said, trying to give herself importance

"Wow, that´s amazing. You are a very mysterious lady, Rei-san"

Rei was having the time of her life. He was such and interesting and handsome man, she felt she could get lost forever in his deep dark eyes. After a while more she accompanied him outside and gave him a charm.

"It´s a present" Rei said shyly

"Thank you very much, Rei-san. I´ll sure be returning. I loved to come across you again" he said, before walking away.

Rei was hysterically happy… he had been positively flirting with her! And he was so cool and such a gentleman…! She could not wait to see him again!

* * *

That Friday, the four friends were walking out of their highschool talking about how close the end of the year was and the upcoming exams for which they will have to study so hard, when they spotted the trio they loved most waiting for them outside the school building.

"Hey boys!" Minako shouted from the distance, waving like crazy

The three Starlights sweatdropped and came closer to the girls.

"Hello girls, how are you doing?" Taiki greeted while Seiya and Usagi smiled to each other playfully.

"Very good, thanks! How are you adapting back here?" Makoto said

"We have already settled down in our new apartment and are now working with our former manager in order to relaunch our career, so everything is running smoothly." He responded and then added "We were wondering if perhaps Mizuno-san will have the afternoon free in order for us to do some research about… you know… about us"

"Of course, I´ll be delighted to start right away!" Ami answered excited, smiling at Taiki who responded in the same way. "Are you coming, girls?" she said, looking at her friends

"As a matter of fact… I´m meeting my boyfriend in less than an hour so I don´t think I can make it this afternoon, sorry…" Makoto said

"I am meeting Tenbin-sama and his manager later today so I am busy too! You know, an idol´s life is full of compromises!" Minako said excitedly, winking at Taiki

"Who´s this Tenbin guy?" Yaten asked

"You don´t know him? He´s the new most famous pop idol! He´s such a good singer! His songs are soooo romantic…!" Minako said excitedly

"He´s the singer with whom Minako is recording her debut song" Makoto clarified to the stranged Yaten.

"By the way, Ami-chan" Minako added "I called Rei earlier today and she said she will be busy all afternoon working in the shrine, so she won´t be coming and you will have to find another place to go and do this research thing…"

"What´s with Rei-chan and the shrine lately? She always keeps complaining and complaining about all the work she has to do and leaves with any excuse, and now suddenly she´s spending there all afternoons!" Usagi pointed out

"Yes, that´s true… maybe she is teaching someone to help her?" Minako wondered

"Well, not a problem. We can go to the library I usually go to on the afternoons for studying" Ami proposed

"That´s fine with us" Taiki agreed

"Well, shall we get going? Are you coming, Usagi-chan? You can even study a little while we research, I can help you"

When Usagi was going to accept the proposal, a voice was heard.

"Usagi is coming with me" Seiya stated

"Hey! Who said you could decide?" Usagi said annoyed, turning around to face him. He still had the bad habit of deciding for her, that had not changed at all, and she secretly loved it!

"I need you to come with me someplace" he added "Come on!" He said while grabbing her hand and starting to pull her away walking fast.

"HEEEYYYY!" Usagi yelled while being carried away.

The rest of the group looked at the scene and sweatdropped, not having time to react or say anything about it.

"Man… this Seiya has ducked out of the hard duties again! How is it possible he always tricks us?" Yaten commented, pissed off by his brother´s elusive attitude

"Well, it can´t be helped. Should we go, Mizuno-san?" Taiki said

"Yes, let´s go!" Ami responded enthusiastically

"Ok everyone, have fun!" Minako and Makoto said while leaving the opposite direction

Yaten realized he had been left with Taiki and Ami… such an undersirable situation… they both were too intellectual for him, always talking about uncomprehensive issues that caused him headaches, and moreover, he couldn´t help feeling he was interrupting something… so for this once, he decided to act like the brother he critiziced so much…

"Emmm… I… I suddenly remembered I had to do something…somewhere…" he stuttered while slowly stepping backwards, when suddenly he turned around and ran away.

"Byeee!" was the last thing they heard from him.

Taiki and Ami laughed at this situation.

"At least Seiya slips out more elegantly! Yaten is a complete disaster!" he commented

Ami chuckled, and Taiki realized how much he enjoyed its sound, and how cute she looked when she laughed.

* * *

After a short walk, they both entered the library and sat at a vacant luminous wooden table next to a big window.

"So, where should we start from?" Ami asked in a low voice

"Maybe I can update you on what we have found out so far, Mizuno-san" Taiki responded

"Yes, that´s a good idea. But please call me Ami, I think we can be more confident with each other after all that we have been through" she said, directing a smile at him

He grinned and answered "That´s true, Ami-san" He turned around a little to face her and started telling her what he knew "After we found out about our true identity not as Kinmoku´s senshi but as senshi of the stars, I looked through several books of my personal library which could deal with this topic…"

"It must have been really hard for you to leave all your books behind to come here…" Ami commented

"Indeed… I think you are the first person to understand that"

"They must be really interesting… All that information unavailable here…" Ami continued dreamily

"Maybe one day I could take you there with me, to show them to you…"

Ami´s cheeks turned a little rosy "So… did you find something in your books?"

Before Taiki could answer, a low masculine voice interrupted them.

"Good afternoon, Ami-san"

They both rised their gaze to see a really pale and thin boy about their age, with dark greyish hair and light silver sunken eyes which gave him a gloomy appearance.

"Hello Oogama-kun" Ami responded

"Ah, you have come with someone today" the boy said visibly annoyed, directing a quick look at Taiki

"Yes, this is my very good friend Kou Taiki-san" she introduced

"Nice to meet you" Taiki said, while offering his hand to him

Nevertheless, Oogama ignored it and turned to talk to Ami. Taiki narrowed his eyes at the visitor and moved his unshaken hand back. Ami looked preoccupied at how rude her friend had been with Taiki.

"Are you going to study today?" Oogama continued asking Ami

"No, not today. I´m into some issues with Taiki-san"

"Ah, are you? I thought we could study together for a while…"

"Sorry, next time maybe" she said, starting to get annoyed at his attitude

"You sure? It´s not a good moment to spend time with trifles, with the exams coming soon. We´d better study together so we can improve further, don´t you think?"

"The lady said that not today" Taiki said seriously and looking at the boy with a very scary face that impressed Ami very much

"Fine… your choice" he said looking at Ami, and then turning around and walking away.

"I´m really sorry" Ami apologized once he left, feeling embarrassed "He´s not usually like this, it is the first time I have seen him acting so rude"

"Your boyfriend?" Taiki ventured to ask

"Wha…what?" Ami blushed furiously, looking at him "No! Absolutely not! I mean… I have known him only for a few weeks when he started studying in this same library. One day he came where I was sitting and proposed we studied together… but I don´t really enjoy it very much, since he tends to try to talk too much about other issues and he does not concentrate in his studies, which makes me loose my concentration too…"

"I see…" Taiki said "If he makes you feel unconfortable again, just tell me"

Ami looked at Taiki with amazed eyes… he was an incredible man: smart, handsome, elegant, interesting, and with a strong protective side she had just discovered and she loved! She couldn´t help blushing, which Taiki gladly noticed.

"I don´t like people disturbing my very good friends" He added, using her same words and smiling at her, which made Ami´s cheeks set on fire.

"So…ssha sha shall we continue then?" Ami tried changing topic back to the research; she was feeling so nervous around him…!

"Certainly… as I was telling you, I found these books related to great battles in our solar system from ages ago, where sometimes strange senshi are mentioned"

"What do you mean strange?"

"Well, senshi that do not belong to any planet in particular, that suddenly come to help to battle evil. Moreover, they are usually the most powerful ones, whose help is crucial for defeating the existing menace."

"And how do they appear? I mean… do they somehow know something is happening? Like they have a constant surveillance over the galaxy?"

"I thought about the same thing, but Kakuyuu-sama mentioned something about asking for help when Chaos' first attacks were discovered and she realized she did not have enough power by herself. Also, I found something written in the stories that could be translated as 'princess prayers' that they could be using to call them"

"Princess prayers? Does that mean that the princesses of the solar systems have the power to call the Star senshi? Like for example… Usagi-chan?"

"Maybe not directly, but perhaps, somehow…"

"All of this makes me wonder…" Ami continued, expressing her thoughts out loud "When you think about it globally, we have also had contact with senshi that did not belong to any planet in particular, right?"

"During our last battle… the one we fought together… that´s correct" Taiki nodded

"And if I recall… we have even met the legendary most powerful senshi in the Galaxy, and even her name takes us back to the stars…"

"Galaxia" they both said in unison. They looked at each other and smiled.

Ami continued, excited by their discovery "She must be! She is very strong; she fought to defend the galaxy ages ago and even sacrificed her soul and body to seal the menace within her!"

"Yes, that´s true. So do you think… she´s one of us?" Taiki asked

"Well, you have to think of the healed Galaxia, her true appearance. Not about the one taken by Chaos that tried to destroy us. That was not truly her." Ami responded, noticing that Taiki was preoccupied because he was only remembering the evil Galaxia who destroyed his homeplanet.

"You are always able to see the good things in everyone´s hearts, Ami-san" Taiki couldn´t help commenting.

Ami blushed like crazy again. Why was she feeling like this? Taiki was always so good with her, and such an interesting person…

"Tha…thanks…" she stuttered

"Thanks to you, you always manage to place me in the correct path."

Ami smiled broadly. She felt good with him.

"So, since the only other possible person we know could be a senshi of the Stars apart from us three is Galaxia… should we focus on trying to contact her?" he suggested

"It´s the only direction I can think of for the moment. But I am not sure how to do that."

"If you think about it, Kakuyuu-sama came to your planet because she sensed that the Light of Hope that could defeat Chaos had been sent here."

"Yes" Ami said, following Taiki´s reasoning

"And the Light of Hope ended up being Galaxia herself"

"That´s right… Galaxia´s pure star seed… not taken by Chaos"

"So my question is…why here? Why did Galaxia send herself to your princess?"

"I see where you are trying to get… Galaxia must have known Usagi-chan from before"

"That´s it. She had to be positive that Usagi-san was going to be able to accept her and take care of her and ultimately be able to defeat Chaos with her. I assume she would not randomly send the last hope of defeating evil to anyone."

"Sure…but… we did not know Galaxia from before. Well, not that we remember."

"Right. But you never know. Us three don´t remember anything about our lives prior to being in Kinmoku…"

"Yes, that´s true… our memories of our past lives have been coming slowly and in small doses. Maybe we know her from before, but we don´t remember about it yet. In that case… our only options are to try to talk to Luna who sometimes knows more than us about the past, or… try to talk with someone who actually is from a past life, such as… Queen Serenity"

"Queen Serenity? Who´s she?"

"Usagi´s past mother"

"Is that possible?" Taiki was stunned

"Well, I´m not quite sure how, but it might be… we were once teleported to the past and met her, or most specifically, her spirit self. That´s when she told us the story of our past lives…" Ami explained

"That´s incredible… how did you do that?"

"Actually it was not intentionally… one of our enemies teleported us to the chaos of multiple dimensions to try to get rid of us, but Usagi´s Silver Crystal guided us there, to the past, where it was safe…"

"I see… so that Crystal may be the key to doing it again"

"Maybe not travelling again, since it doesn´t actually have that power, but… perhaps talking to the Queen through it."

"Right…"

"There is another possibility I can think of, but I am not sure if we would be allowed to do so…"

"And what is that?"

"Well, not only have we seen the past, but also the future. Actually, we have even met our future selves from the 30th Century" Ami continued telling Taiki about it, who was now looking at her blue-haired friend wide eyed. "Sailor Pluto, apart from being a senshi, is the guardian of the Time Gate. She has the key to travelling through time, though it is forbidden."

"And how did you manage to do so, then?"

"Well, that´s quite a long and complicated story, but let´s summarize it by saying that we also met Usagi and her boyfriend Mamoru´s future daughter, and she´s a really obstinate little girl who always ends up fulfilling all the tasks she proposes herself, even if they are the most incredible ones… So the issue was that the Earth had been attacked in the future and she stole one of Sailor Pluto´s keys to come to the past to ask Sailor Moon to help her, so we travelled to the future with her…"

"I see…You sure have interesting lives…!" Taiki commented.

* * *

After running a few streets to get away from their friends while pulling Usagi along, Seiya finally slowed down.

"What was that for? I think that my right arm is now twice as long as the left one!" Usagi complained

Seiya laughed at Usagi doing strange movements trying to measure her arms.

"Don´t worry Odango, I like you anyways"

"What do you mean anyways? So it really is longer now, is it?"

He smiled again and took her hand in his, gentler this time, while starting to walk again.

"So where do you need me to go with you?"

"Huh?... Ah… nowhere"

"What?"

"Just wanted to be alone with you."

Usagi turned deep red.

"You know? One of these days I reaaally need to start studying if I want to pass my exams!"

"What do you mean start? Have you not started yet?" Seiya sweatdropped while he looked at her.

"Well you know! I have had some issues going on and so…"

"Don´t worry, I´ll help you"

"Huh?"

"I´ll help you study, I´m saying"

"AHAHHAHAHAAA! You are going to help me study? They are going to send me back to infant school for sure!" Usagi teased him

"Heyyy! I´m waaaaayyyy better student than you are, and anyways I can just be with you to make sure you actually study and don´t get distracted or end up eating and sleeping!"

Usagi dropped silent. She had been caught.

Seiya smirked with satisfaction "It´s a deal, then!"

Usagi looked at him embarrassed but happy. How good was always everything around him… He knew perfectly how she really was and loved it anyways and offered to help instead of mocking her because of her bad grades… He caught her looking at him and returned her smile.

All of a sudden, Seiya sensed something. He did not know what it was nor had he time to find out, so his reaction was just to protect her…

"Careful!" He shouted suddenly, grabbing Usagi tight around her waist and leaping to one side as far as he could. He managed to turn around in mid-air during the jump, so he was the one to crash into the floor when they finally fell, protecting Usagi with his body.

"Seiya!" Usagi yelled. He did not answer her, he had fainted. She didn´t know what had happened, but he had crashed hard, and his left shoulder was badly injured. Nevertheless it looked strange… his wound was not because of crashing to the floor but something else… it looked burnt… like if something had hit him. She looked in front of them to see what had happened, and she was terrified when she saw three very strange creatures. They looked like stinky greenish-skinned fat dwarves, not more than half a meter high. They were completely bald and had very small pointy ears and noses. One of them was holding some kind of wand at them, and smoke was still coming out of its tip.

"Please no… no no no no… don´t let this be happening again!" she pleaded while she gently shook Seiya to bring him back. She was starting to get desperate, since another one of the creatures seemed to be preparing to shoot at them again.

"Seiya… Seiya! Please wake up, you have to wake up!"

"mmm…" He finally reacted, and suddenly opened his eyes wide at remembering what was happening "Odango, are you ok?"

"Yes, yes, but we have to leave before…" she was saying, when suddenly a beam was heard and the window right above them shattered in a thousand pieces. They both tried to cover themselves up from the rain of small glass pieces, Usagi leaning over Seiya´s face to protect him.

"Can you stand up?" she urged

"Of course! I don´t give up easily, you should know that!" he said, winking at her while struggling to stand up with her help. She passed his unwounded arm around her neck to support him while she said

"How can you still joke at a moment like this?" Usagi couldn´t help but smiling a little, while they got on the move.

They moved just in time for a third blow to strike the spot where they were standing a second ago. They both looked back a second at the dark spot that had been left in the floor, and their faces went pale when they saw the concrete floor bubbling and slowly dissolving under it.

Seiya was moving slowly, his shoulder hurt too much.

"Odango, we won´t make it fast enough… hide there in between those parked cars, I´m going to fight them back"

"Seiya, but you´re injured!" Usagi protested "Let me…"

"Odango, the only thing I truly care of is you. I will not let anything harm you. Your Tiare was destroyed by Galaxia during our last battle, so right now your power is not to deal with this, please let me do it. Let me protect you."

She was touched by his words, so she nodded and obeyed. She stepped behind a car nearby and she watched him transform into Sailor Star Fighter. Once transformed, Fighter directed a smile at her and tenderly caressed her face with her gloved hand.

"Don´t worry, I´ll be back here by your side in less than a minute" she said, before stepping out to confront the enemies. Usagi could not move her eyes from her.

"You evil creatures who dare disturb a romantic couple´s walk!" Fighter shouted, and Usagi sweatdropped from her watching position "I´m gonna finish you off!"

The dwarves were visibly stunned by the appearance of the senshi, and did not have time to react before Figher directed her attack at them.

"Star Serious Laser!"

The strong light beam hit them all at a time; Fighter was becoming more and more powerful. The creatures exploded in a funny way, as if bubbling and then dissolving in smoke. Usagi was astonishedly looking at this, when she suddenly noticed Fighter falling to her knees beside her.

"Fighter!" Usagi shouted and ran towards her. She was sweaty, breathing hard and barely conscious, but she managed to detransform herself.

"Seiya… Seiya, your wound is looking worse, you shouldn´t have fought!" she said, looking at him with deep concern in her watery eyes, while sweetly clearing the bangs off his forehead.

"I told you Odango, I will always protect the one I love…" he said, speaking with a reedy voice, and then passed out.

"SEIYAAA!"


	10. Preoccupation

***Hello there! Here you have finally the next chapter of my story! Sorry for the late update, it´s been a crazy week! Hope you enjoy it and like reading about our favorite couple SxU ^_^. Looking forward for your comments and opinions! ***

***Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or its characters, but i´d love the owners to end the story just like this! ;-)***

_Japan_

Usagi was alone in the street, with Seiya dismayed in her lap. She was worried to death and did not know what to do. She cursed the day when they decided to take off their senshi communicators since there were no more enemies around. She called her friends to their mobile phones but none of them responded. That afternoon, she remembered, they were all really busy with several things: the shrine, the audition, the research, the boyfriend… She decided to search in Seiya´s pockets for his mobile phone, in order to call his brothers for help. She found it soon and nervously dialed Taiki´s number and prayed for him to answer.

After several tones, a very low voice finally answered.

"Seiya, I´m at the library, can we…"

"Taiki!" Usagi cried desperately "It´s me, Usagi! We have been attacked!"

"What? What do you mean attacked?"

"Someone… something… appeared in the street and fired at us, Seiya was injured and has fainted! I don´t know what to do, if I call an ambulance… you know… they are going to ask, and it was not a normal attack…"

"Ok, calm down. First of all, you have to leave. Can you try waking him up and carrying him to our house? His keys should be in one of his pockets, I´ll tell you the address"

"Yes, yes, ok…"

"We´ll be there right away, Ami-san is with me"

* * *

Usagi was finally able to bring Seiya back. He was not fully conscious but at least he managed to stand and move his feet while leaning on Usagi, in order for her not to carry his full weight. His skin was burning with fever and the wound was developing some green ramifications around it. She cried silent worry tears while they slowly reached the Starlight´s apartment.

When Usagi opened the door, she heard a voice from inside.

"Seiya? You sure return early, I did not expect you to come back until dusk, knowing you were hanging around with your beloved Usagi…"

"Yaten!" Usagi cried from the entrance.

Yaten recognized the voice and swallowed… she had heard what he said! Nevertheless, the urge in her cry made him forget about it, stand in a jump and run to where she was.

"Usagi-san! Seiya! What has happened?" he asked concerned, taking Seiya from Usagi so she could rest, since she was visibly exhausted from carrying him.

"We were attacked in the street!" she explained while running into the kitchen

"Attacked? Like a robber, or… attacked like a senshi" Yaten was worrying more and more, fearing a new enemy could be appearing. He gently placed Seiya in the sofa, upside down.

Usagi rushed out of the kitchen, carrying a bowl with fresh water and ice cubes, and a cloth she had found rummaging around.

"senshi kind of attack…" she answered while wetting the cloth in the cold water and cleaning Seiya´s burning face with it, which made him moan weakly "three strange creatures fired at us, and one of their shots hit Seiya in the shoulder" she said, while gently uncovering his wounded shoulder, slowly tearing the broken shirt around the wound.

"Oh my…" Yaten exclaimed "That does not look good…"

Usagi looked at him with worried eyes, and was going to say something when the door was heard opening. Ami bursted inside the house.

"Usagi-chan! Are you ok?"

"Ami-chan!" she cried and embraced her friend. "Ami-chan I´m so scared! Something hit Seiya, and he has a fever and the wound…!"

"Ok, don´t worry, let me see…" Ami said while getting near Seiya. She sensed Taiki silently approaching them and staring at the wound, so she said "It looks like poison of some kind…"

"Yes it does" Taiki agreed

"Poison?" Usagi was desperately crying.

"Don´t worry Usagi-chan. You reacted fast. We need antidote soon, that´s all." Ami said, trying to calm her down. "My mother has some at home. I´ll go and get them and return as fast as I can"

"I´ll take you there, it will be faster. We´ll get Seiya´s new car" Taiki offered.

"Great, we´re off then" Ami agreed, not wanting to loose a second

"What should I do meanwhile?" Usagi asked

"You are doing great, just try to lower the fever with those cloths, and put another one over the wound"

"Ok, ok…" Usagi responded, wetting again the cloth in the freezing water.

* * *

They returned a little more than half an hour later, but it was the longest time ever for Usagi, she was so worried… Ami injected three different substances around his wound, to cover up more possibilities, since they weren´t sure what the poison was, and then bandaged the area after applying a cicatrizant gel.

"That´s it. These cover most poison types, it should be better soon" Ami said, throwing away the empty syringes.

"It´s good you already have quite an extense medical knowledge Ami-san" Taiki said

"Thank you" she answered and blushed. "It´s my dream to become a good doctor someday, to be able to help people as much as I can"

"You already do" he said softly while directing at her his elegant smile

Yaten rolled his eyes from his observing position in the couch next to Seiya. Usagi was not really paying attention to the flirting going on in between her friends. She was kneeling right beside Seiya, checking his temperature with the back of her hand every minute.

A pair of hours went by during which Usagi did not leave Seiya´s side. Taiki and Yaten had prepared something to eat for their guests, and Ami had tried calling the rest of the girls again and had finally succeded. They were all in their way to the apartment.

Usagi was changing again the cloths she had placed over Seiya´s forehead when he finally moved.

"…..Odan…go…"

"Seiya…!" Usagi said softly into his ear, while caressing his face. She was so relieved to see him better that tears started flowing from her eyes.

Seiya raised his left arm which was hanging off the sofa, and tried to reach Usagi´s face. She got his hand and covered it with hers, unconsciously pressing it towards her heart.

"Please…. Don´t cry…"

"No… no…" she said, wiping off the tears. "These are happy tears, because I am so glad you are ok now… I was so scared…"

"Odango…" He said, and smiled slightly.

It was already dark when the girls arrived. Seiya was awake and feeling better but the poison had left him very weak and feverish. He was still lying along the sofa, bare chested and with the bandage covering most of his left side. Usagi was sitting on the floor next to him, she didn´t move away from him. They all gathered around them and she told everyone all she could remember about the attack.

"So a new enemy has appeared… and it is not one of the usual phages" Makoto stated

"It seemed to be a totally different creature, like a nasty alien or something" Usagi said

"Hey! What do you mean by nasty alien?" Yaten responded "We´re technically aliens too, you know?"

Everyone laughed softly.

"So, what are we going to do about this?" Rei asked, serious again

"There is not much we can do for the moment, this is their first appearance. We don´t know why they´ve come or what they want" Ami said

"…They wanted Odango…" a tiny voice was heard.

"Seiya…" Usagi turned around to look at him trying to stand a little to give his opinion.

"They aimed at her…" he continued, with a low and broken voice "only that I stepped in the way. They were really surprised when I transformed and fired back at them. I think they were expecting her to be alone…"

Usagi looked down. Alone. She would have been, had it not been for Seiya who was always there when she needed him most. They all directed concerned looks at the princess.

"Ok, first thing, everyone get your communicators back on. We must be reachable every moment, to gather fast if something happens" Minako proposed.

"Also… it would be a good idea not to leave Usagi alone, until we know something more about these new enemies" Rei pointed out.

"I can escort you home tonight. It´s already late anyways for any girl to walk around alone" Makoto suggested

"Yes, that´s a good idea" Rei said, and they all nodded.

"No." Usagi´s voice was heard

"Usagi-chan, please understand. We know you don´t like feeling as if you need bodyguards, but it is not that we don´t think you can take care of yourself, it´s that someone out there is trying to kill you. Your powers are not fully active right now, and we don´t know if they will be any good against them." Minako replied

"Usagi, we care about you. Everyone here will be very sad if something happened to you" Makoto added, looking at Seiya.

"I understand" Usagi finally said "but I will feel the same way if anything happened to any of you for my sake, like it has happened to Seiya today…"

"Odango, I´m fine…" Seiya said

"Seiya please rest..." Usagi said, helping him back in a lying position, and then added "I´m staying here tonight. I don´t want to leave his side" she said, directing a supplicant look at Minako, who nodded in response

"Ok, Usagi-chan. We´ll make up the story that you are staying at my house tonight. We´ll call your parents from my mobile phone so you can talk to them and they don´t get alarmed"

"Thank you, Minako-chan" Usagi smiled and turned to check on Seiya again.

* * *

After arranging Usagi´s alibi, the girls left the apartment to go home. It was already very late, and the streets were dark.

"I´m worried about all this… a new enemy? I thought by vanquishing Chaos all evil had been finally defeated" Makoto commented

"Yes… this is indeed strange… we have to try and find out more about it so we are not caught off guard again" Ami said

"By the way, any advances with Taiki´s research?" Makoto asked

"Actually yes, we´ll tell all of you about it another day, to see what we can do"

"That´s ok then"

"Do you think we should tell the Outer senshi about this?" Minako asked

"Maybe we should…" Ami responded "We don´t know how powerful this enemy might be, and we may need their help. And anyways, they should be aware, for their own safety. The enemy targeted Usagi-chan specifically… that means they know our civilian identities…"

"Right…" Minako answered, preoccupied "We´ll arrange that too"

"Girls" Rei interrupted "What´s going on between Usagi and Seiya?"

They all suddenly stopped talking and looked at Rei. They all knew, but no one wanted to say it.

"I see… should we worry about it?" Rei continued

"I don´t think there´s nothing to worry about. What is destined to happen, will happen." Minako answered.

"Yes but… are the Starlights changing destiny with their presence?"

"What are you trying to say, Rei?" Ami was annoyed by this comment "do you think that all this is their fault? "

"No, I suppose not… I´m not sure, Ami, to be honest… Usagi´s changing. Her feelings are changing, I can see that very clearly, and I think you all see it too. Can that change the future? Are we messing with something too big for us?"

"Love is love, Rei-chan. It will happen if it has to. Nothing we can do" Minako said

"But… she has Mamoru-san, and they are destined to be together, the future depends on it…" Rei protested, but Minako interrupted her again.

"None of our business, Rei. That´s for Usagi-chan to deal with, not us"

And with this they said goodbye to each other for the night.

* * *

At the Starlights' apartment, Taiki finally convinced Usagi of having something to eat while he and Yaten moved Seiya to his bed. He instantly fell asleep, still having a slight fever. Once she was done eating, she went into Seiya´s room and kneeled in the floor right next to his face, covering her back with a blanket that Taiki had given her. The whole room smelled like him, and it made her feel heady… it was such a delicious scent… every time she smelled it she felt millions of butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. She looked at him and calmed down by hearing his steady breath.

Taiki stuck his head into the room.

"Will you be ok there?"

"Yes, thank you Taiki-san. I´m fine. I want to be by his side" Usagi responded softly

"Ok, just try to rest a little"

"Don´t worry, go sleep and I´ll take care of him tonight"

"Good night, Usagi-san" he said and left the room.

She was checking Seiya´s temperature placing her hand in his forehead gently not to wake him up, when Yaten came into the room and half closed the door behind him, leaving them in semi-darkness. He leaned on the wall and crossed his arms in front of him. He had a bothered expression.

"Are you aware of how much he loves you?" he just said, looking straight at Usagi.

She was very surprised by this. Her eyes opened wide first, looking at him and not knowing what to answer. She realized he was totally serious about it. She then looked down and nodded.

"I understand that you cannot respond to his love, I really do. But if this is so, please don´t make him suffer any more by being so much around him and maintaining his hope alive" he clearly said, and without giving her time for any replies, he left the room.

Silent tears were now falling from Usagi´s eyes. She knew Yaten was right.

Usagi watched over Seiya for most of the night, but completely exhausted, she ended up falling asleep for two or three hours with her head and arms resting on Seiya´s mattres. Seiya woke up briefly in one occasion troubled by nightmares caused by the fever, and saw her sleeping, her head right beside his. He felt better that same instant; her only presence healed him inside. He couldn´t help feeling like the happiest man in the entire universe. She was so beautifully asleep, so close to him… he could hear her steady strong breath which was almost like snoring and sounded so sweet and calm, he could see her golden hair all messy and spread over the bed and the floor shining in the dim light that came through the half-closed door, and he could smell her candy scent which made him feel so good. He grinned from ear to ear and moved to kiss her head, which caused a sharp sting in his shoulder. But it was worth it. Usagi muttered something in her sleep, and she said his name. He felt so filled up with joy… He held one of her hands in his and fell back asleep, the most pleasant sleep of all he had ever had.

* * *

Usagi woke up with the noises of people moving in the apartment. She checked the time. Nine in the morning, Taiki and Yaten must be up already. She was going to stand when she realized her hand was being held by the sleeping Seiya. She smiled contented, but then remembered what Yaten had told her the night before. What could she do? She loved so much being with him… she did not even imagine her life now if he was not a part of it. Was that love perhaps…? 'Oh no… have I fallen in love with him without realizing it?' she thought to herself. That would be such a big problem, and… so wrong! But it felt so good to be with him… She caressed his face with her free hand and started singing for him one of the Starlights' songs in a really soft and low voice.

"You are completely out of key…" a voice said suddenly

"Seiya!" Usagi was half shocked to death because she thought he was deep asleep, but was really happy to see he had recovered and was teasing her as always. "How are you feeling?"

He started moving, tying to sit up in the bed, and Usagi helped him do so and sat beside him.

"mmm… it still hurts a little, but I have had the best sleep ever…" he answered, smiling at her.

She blushed a little and smiled back. She loved to see him like that, just out of bed with his long black hair loose over his perfect back, his firm bare chest… he looked awesome.

"You shouldn´t have stayed all night watching over me… you must be very tired" he added

"I was really preoccupied for you; I wanted to be by your side in case you needed something…"

"You are always so sweet and caring, Odango…" he said, moving closer to her and tucking one of her tangled locks of hair behind her ear and then moving his hand from there to the tip of her chin while caressing all of her face in the way, and looking into her eyes with those deep blue eyes of his where she could get lost forever…

Her face was deep red now and she was melting with their contact. She would have loved to abandon herself to her true desire and embrace him right there, right then, and never let go. But that would have been wrong; it was not meant to be, so she needed to put a distance in between them, in order not to harm him. She just wanted the best for him, she didn´t want him to feel miserable. So fearing what she was starting to feel by being so close to him, she used all the will she had and stood up, moving away from him.

"I´ll go get you something to eat, you must be starving!" she said smiling while exiting the room.

* * *

Usagi had breakfast with Seiya and his brothers, and then left them to go home. She made Taiki promise her he would call if there was any change at all in Seiya. He was looking better, but it had been a really strange attack and she was still preoccupied. When she reached her house, the only thing she had in mind was getting into her bed with all the lights off and sleep until the afternoon, not thinking about anything. Her mind was so busy with all that had happened and what she had felt that she only wanted to rest.

"I´m hoooome" she announced apathetically

"Usagi-chan is that you?" Usagi´s mother voice said

"Yes… I´m going straight to bed, mom. We haven´t slept that much tonight at Minako´s house" she told her mother when she appeared in front of her

"Ok darling, but… maybe you would like to know that Mamoru-san called"

Usagi froze. She was stunned.

"He… he did? When did he call?"

"Yesterday night. I told him you were staying with the girls at Minako´s house… He left the phone number of his new apartment in America. Here it is" she said, taking a piece of paper out of her pocket.

"Thanks mom. I know it´s a long-distance call and it´s expensive but… can I call?"

"Of course, honey"

Usagi took the phone and rushed upstairs. She closed her room door and sat in her bed looking at the phone and the little piece of paper with the number. She was crazily nervous. 'How is it possible? He hasn´t called for weeks and he calls precisely the night I am staying at Seiya´s house? It´s as if he knew it!' Usagi thought 'But it can´t be, right? How could he? And I have not done anything wrong, have I? He´s only a dear friend of mine with whom I stayed yesterday because he had been badly injured…'

She took a hold of herself, breathed in deeply and dialed. Her heart was beating hard. After a few seconds, the so familiar voice answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Mamo-chan…" just by hearing his voice, she was already about to cry, but she did not know why.

"Ah, Usa-ko, it´s you. How are you doing?"

"mmm… I miss you, Mamo-chan. You have not called me for such a long time…!" she cried

"Please… I told you I would be busy… I´m calling you now, right?"

"…yes, but…"

"Anyways, you have been having fun, have you?"

"Huh?" Usagi was getting more and more nervous. She held her breath.

"I called you yesterday and your mother told me you were at a pajama party at Minako´s…"

"Ah! yeah…" she lied. She didn´t know why, but she did not want to tell Mamoru about the attack. Also, she did not want him to know about her spending the night at Seiya´s apartment, he won´t understand it for sure… but she had to tell him about the Starlights. He was going to end up knowing it sooner or later, and she preferred to be the one to tell him, so he saw it as something normal that did not mean anything at all and that she had no reason to hide from him.

"Also, Mamo-chan… do you know what?"

"Yes?"

"The Starlights have returned to Earth"

A huge silence took over them. Usagi was so nervous she was shaking slightly.

After a pause that seemed eternal, he finally responded "Oh have they? And what for?"

"Well, apparently they are doing some research about their origin and so, and wanted to talk to Ami-chan about it and see what we could know or if we could help them with it..."

"Research? I see…" his words were curt. He didn´t like them being around Usagi. Specially one of them… he knew perfectly what that man´s feelings for Usagi were, and although their compromise was strong, it was not a confortable situation. "And are you meeting them often?"

Usagi was surprised by the question "Huh? Nnn… no, not really…" she lied again, sensing her boyfriend´s voice tone "Just to say hello and such."

"Ok, that´s good." Mamoru stated "And will they be staying long?"

"…Actually I have no idea about that…"

"Well, I suppose if it is just for researching and asking a pair of questions they have returned, there is no reason for them to stay too long in our planet, is there?" he stated

"….hmmm…" Usagi was shocked by his words and did not react. He was talking about her dearest friends as if they were some kind of invaders! What was he thinking? They had saved her life, they had saved the planet! When she was about to respond, Mamoru interrupted her.

"Listen, Usa-ko, I have to leave now. I´ll call you again in some time, ok?"

"Yes…" she answered, feeling uneasy.

"Goodbye"

That had been the most unconfortable conversation ever. They had not really talked about anything, nor had he told her he missed her or he loved her… no couple´s words, no feelings. It had been a duty kind of call, calling her because he had to, in order for her not to worry. She was fed up with this… she felt she was stuck in a relationship with a man who did not love her at all; it was like one of those arranged marriages between members of royal families, where couples had to marry because of someone else´s interests and not because they loved each other. Also, she had noticed that as soon as he had known about the Starlights, the conversation had been all about putting clear that he did not like her to be with them that much. She did not enjoy talking to him anymore, it just made her unconfortable and nervous.

She looked at the ring in her finger and in an impulse she decided to take it off and put it away in a drawer, together with their photograph that she had placed there several days ago when he left her and she still had not taken out. She did not feel good wearing a ring from a man who did not love her, and for who she did not feel love herself anymore… She thought to herself that she would wear it again when she fixed things with Mamoru.

She then layed on her bed and thought about Seiya… when she closed her eyes, the image of his eversmiling face always appeared. That smile that made her feel so good… She was herself when she was with him. She felt comfortable, safe and happy. Nevertheless, she could not be with him. Her destiny was already decided, and it was with another man. For the future´s sake, which she had the duty to protect. She had to make the effort of not seeing Seiya or at least not as much and especially not alone, in order not to harm him, as Yaten had told her yesterday. Moreover, she was starting to have very strong feelings for him, and she was afraid not to be able to control her heart´s true desire when it was just the two of them. She closed the curtains, tried not to think about anything and took a long nap.

* * *

_Darkness_

"FAILED? What do you mean failed?" The strongest voice ever was heard

"Sorry my Lord… I sent my most powerful warriors for the task, but they failed…"

"Your warriors? For a mission as important as this and you send mere warriors? Why didn´t you do it yourself?"

"I was busy… with my other duty…"

"THAT COULD HAVE WAITED" It was a sentence. It was said with such anger, the voice so deep that it scared the life out of every living being around. "You should have gone yourself! Are you aware that it may have been our only chance of getting her alone? Now they will all prepare themselves and will be ready the next time we attack!"

"I know, my Lord, it was very unfortunate indeed but… she was not exactly alone"

"What?" this statement surprised him

"The Starlights… one of them was with her. She was the one to finish off my warriors"

"How is that possible? They have made contact already? That is a really big problem we have. We must stop that as soon as possible! She needs to be attacked alone, just make sure that happens"

"Yes, my Lord"

"And which one was it?"

"We cannot know, all my warriors were killed in the attack"

"We cannot assume that kind of risk… If the Star and the Moon get together, it will mean our end…I think it´s about time we start with the elimination phase… all the objectives are targeted, I assume"

"Well, all except one… we are having trouble with one of them"

"Talk with whoever has still not targeted his objective because that is not acceptable at all. ALL must be targeted, we need to start elimination phase right now. And we need to do something about those pesty Starlights… They shall not bother our plan"

"We will, my Lord"


	11. Determination

***Hello! Another chapter is here and I hope you enjoy it! Next one it´s going to take a little longer because I´m off on holidays tomorrow, yayy! But I promise you that it won´t be that much time until the next one, and it is going to be longer! Also, the many flight hours are going to give me lots of time to write! ;-) Many many many thanks for your sweet reviews and see you all around in a while!***

***Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of its original characters... but I love it soooo much!***

CHAPTER 11 – DETERMINATION

The next days passed slowly, with the girls attending school as usual and not having further notice of any enemies appearing. They never left Usagi alone for a long time… every afternoon she went to study at one of her friends' houses. After the attack, they had become extremely cautious again and were ready to defend Usagi from any menace that could appear.

Although she was with someone most of the day, Usagi felt really lonely again. Seiya called her every day, but she did not answer the phone… after what Yaten had told her she had realized that she could be hurting him by being with him. Being with Seiya is what she loved most in the world, but she knew it was wrong, it was not meant to be. She had to continue with her life as she was supposed to, in order to reach the future that awaited her and that will save their planet. Therefore, she had to put a distance in between them, and she was trying the hardest she could.

Since she was worried for Seiya´s wound, she kept asking Ami about how he was. Ami was meeting Taiki regularly to continue with their investigation, and they now went to the Starlight´s apartment so they could talk more privately and also in order not to run into any undesired visitors in the library. She also checked on Seiya every day she went, since they had decided not to take him to a doctor at all so they did not have to give any explanations. Ami was very stranged about her friend´s behavior regarding Seiya. It was really obvious that she cared for him very much and she was worrying sick about him, but for some reason she did not want to visit him. One afternoon while coming out of school together, Usagi asked the same question again.

"Nee Ami-chan… did you see Seiya yesterday?"

Ami looked sadly at her friend, not understanding completely, and nodded slightly.

"And? How is he?"

"He´s fine… the wound is healing incredibly fast, he´s got a very unique gift! He almost moves the arm normally now, and there has been no fever for a pair of days already"

"That´s great, I´m so glad…" she sighed, relieved

"You know… he asks about you every day. He said he´s called you but he does never manage to reach you…"

"Yeah… I´m… I´ve been busy with studying and all, and I am barely at home because of what we decided that I should stay with some of you all the time, so…" she excused

"Usagi-chan… what´s wrong?" Ami asked, looking at her friend in the eyes "This is not like you… you have done the impossible before to see him, even going against everybody, and you are worried to death now… I am positive you want to go and see him, so why don´t you? I am going to their apartment now, so you could come with me."

Usagi looked down, sadly "Of course I want to go, Ami-chan… more than anything!" tears started falling from her eyes "But… but… I can´t! I don´t want to harm him any more!" she said, and ran away crying, leaving Ami standing there alone, while she watched her run away astonished. She did not understand what the problem was exactly, but she hated to see her good friend suffering.

* * *

After calling Minako to make sure Usagi had reached her house and was safe, Ami walked to the Starlight´s apartment and knocked at their door. Taiki soon opened it and smiled at her.

"Welcome again, Ami-san"

"Good afternoon" she answered nervously. She loved coming, and she did for a while almost everyday now, with the excuse of investigating about the Starlights and checking on Seiya who was almost recovered, because the truth was that she just enjoyed so much being around Taiki, no matter the reason why.

"Come on in and make yourself at home. I have prepared some outlines summarizing the information we have so far that I would love to show you."

"That´s great, you are very conscientious, Taiki-san. By the way, how´s Seiya doing?" she asked to Taiki, when she heard a different voice answering from inside.

"I´m perfectly fine!" Seiya said while coming to greet her with a smile "Thanks, Ami"

Ami grinned, he was a great guy.

"Does it hurt at all?" she asked

"Nope… well, if I raise my arm completely… maybe a little bit, but that´s nothing" he answered, moving his arm backwards and forwards.

"Great then, we can give you your certificate of discharge, then" she joked

Seiya smiled gratefully and then asked "Ami, have you seen Odango today?"

Ami´s eyes turned a little sad "Yes, at school."

"I see…" he answered gloomily, the shine disappearing from his eyes, and slowly turned around to sit in the sofa.

"Seiya-san!" Ami called him. She knew she was not supposed to say anything, but couldn´t help it… she couldn´t see them like this, they both wanted to see each other and were suffering for no reason.

Seiya turned around.

"Well… I… I just wanted you to know that she asks me about you every day, without missing one. She is really worried for you." She confessed with a sad smile, and she saw Seiya´s sorrow lifting up a little, and a shade of a smile coming to his lips. She felt contented.

"She does?"

Ami nodded.

"Then why… why is she not getting my calls? I don´t understand…"

Ami shrugged her shoulders with an interrogative look.

"Hmm…" Seiya just said, clearly satisfied and thinking of something "Thanks so much, Ami, you are a good friend. I´ll go to my room to play the guitar, so I do not bother you two. Yaten´s not in, so you will not be disturbed here. If you need something, just call me." He reached his guitar that he had left lying on the sofa and went into his room, closing the door. Ami saw him smiling before he disappeared inside.

"Thank you for that" Taiki suddenly said, putting one of his hands in her shoulder, which sent shivers all through her body.

"For what?" She answered, blushing

"Seiya was feeling really depressed since the last time Usagi-san was here. He… he just needs her around."

"I know… we all do" she said, smiling at him.

* * *

The next afternoon, the five friends had met to talk a little about all the things that had been going on recently, share their thoughts and find a way to proceed. It was a formal senshi meeting, which they had not had for a long time now. They all met at Rei´s temple, where they had the required intimacy, far from indiscreet ears and possible disguised enemies. Luna and Artemis were also present, to help and assess the girls as usual.

They were all quite serious, since the matter had turned dangerous again and they sensed their standard teenage girl lifes were about to be put on hold one more time.

"So…we have several things we need to talk about" Ami started "Where should we start from?"

"I think the most urgent issue is our new enemy" Luna suggested and they all nodded "From what Seiya and Usagi-chan told us… the target was… Usagi"

Usagi looked down, she couldn´t help feeling like a nuisance when all her friends had to be in trouble because of her.

"Well, we have our communicators on and we´ll be ready for action if something else happens… I don´t think we can do much more for the moment" Minako said

"That´s true…" Rei agreed

"Maybe it was just one attack and Seiya defeated them and that´s it!" Usagi tried being optimistic and downplaying the attack.

"No, we cannot be sure about that. And it´s not probable at all. They must have an objective, and it´s related to you, Usagi-chan. They didn´t get what they came for, so for sure they are going to try again" Ami argumented, and they all agreed.

Usagi sighed, defeated. Their friends' lifes were going to be changed again because of her.

"The only other thing pending to do about this is to inform the Outer Senshi" Minako said "Shall we go visit them right after we finish here?"

"Yes, the sooner the better" Makoto said and looking at Ami, she continued "And regarding the research about the Starlights… how´s that going?"

Ami told them about what Taiki and her had concluded about Galaxia, and how they needed to talk to someone that could know about it and could maybe know how to contact her.

"We thought that maybe you or Artemis would remember something…" Ami said to Luna.

Luna and Artemis looked at each other and shook their heads.

"No, nothing I remember. But our memories from past lives are also not complete, so what you say may be possible… it makes sense" Luna answered

"Then we may need to contact someone who actually is from a past life…" Ami added

"Are you talking about… Queen Serenity?" Artemis asked and Ami nodded. This made Usagi raise her head and pay much more attention to the conversation. She had only met her past mother in very limited occasions, and she always longed for once more.

"Is it possible?" Ami asked

"Well, I am really not sure how we could talk to her… we have never done that before. What do you think, Usagi-chan?"

Usagi nodded, agreeing to what Luna had just said "Yes… she is the one to appear when she needs to help us or to tell us something, I have never summoned her on my own will"

"And do you think you would manage to do so if you tried?" Ami asked "By using the Silver Crystal? You are more powerful now, and you can fully control it"

"I could try… maybe if we all join powers…"

"Wait but… is that a good idea?" Rei interrupted and they all looked at her stranged "I mean… is that safe to do? To call upon all the power of the Silver Crystal right now, with the new enemy around? What if what the enemy is looking for is precisely the Silver Crystal? Is it wise to use its full power? Won´t we be signaling our position like a lighthouse?"

"What are you talking about, Rei-chan? They already know who we are and how to find us; they attacked Usagi in her civilian identity!" Minako pointed out, slightly annoyed

"Yeah but anyways… using its power for something other than defending our planet when the enemy is around…"

"Rei-chan… we have to help them!" Usagi protested at seeing how little interest her friend showed for the Starlights. "Don´t you remember how much they helped us with our most dangerous battle? This is really important for them!"

Rei looked down and added in a whisper "I just think it´s not safe for the moment to risk our lives for this…"

"Well, let´s see…" Luna added trying to ease the conversation. "Let´s wait a few more days to see how this turns out, and we´ll do it later. We can inform the Starlights about it, and tell them we are going to help them of course, but they´ll have to wait a little until things calm down. They will surely understand".

They all finally agreed to this, colling down from their recent argument.

Ami then added "It is in fact a good idea, I think we shall wait until after the final exams also, so we can focus on them and not get distracted with anything!"

The girls sweatdropped and nodded.

"Yes, Ami, don´t worry…" Minako agreed unexcitedly.

"Ok then, I´ll talk to Taiki-san to tell him about this" Ami setted

"Make sure to tell me the date we will finally be doing this with some anticipation, I have a very busy agenda lately with the recordings going on…" Minako said with shiny eyes

"….. ok Minako-chan…" Ami sweatdropped

"By the way, girls! My boyfriend Kyuu-kun and I have been talking lately and we both want to meet with you so I can formally introduce him to you all! What do you think? Maybe next Tuesday afternoon?" Makoto said excitedly

They were all agreeing happily at sharing her friend´s joy when Rei´s voice was heard saying very low "I can´t make it Tuesday…"

"You can´t? Why not?" Makoto asked

"I have… I need to work on the shrine that afternoon… it´s…"

"What´s with the shrine lately, Rei-chan? You never wanted to stay and now there is no way of moving you out of here!" Minako asked

"Actually… I have something to tell you…"

They all looked at Rei at once. She was blushing, which was not that common in her.

"Do you remember that man I bumped into at Crown´s?"

"Of course we do, as if someone could forget him!" Minako commented

"Well, we came across each other again at the temple about a week ago and… well… we´ve been talking a lot since and going out for a walk and having coffee and…"

"Oh my… are you DATING him?" Minako shouted like crazy, standing up and stamping the palms of her hands in the table "You are the luckiest girl in the world! Well… after me, that I´m fulfilling my dream of becoming a star together with the cutest singer ever!" She laughed cockily.

"Rei-chan is that so?" Makoto asked to her shy-acting friend

Rei nodded, her eyes closed and her cheeks rosy.

"Rei-chan! That is so great!" Usagi was really happy for her. At last her friend had found the love she deserved so much.

"So…? Tell us about him!" Minako urged, elbowing her friend.

"Well… he´s great! Apart from being handsome, he is so nice and charming… we can talk about everything! And he´s really corteous with me…" Rei told their friends, her eyes sparkling with love

"See? Now you understand how I feel" Makoto said smiling "Well, if you are meeting him on Tuesday then we´ll find another day so you can all meet my boyfriend. This is more important!"

They all giggled, congratulated Rei and continued chatting lively about her new boyfriend like the teenagers they really were, forgetting for a moment the trouble that was going on around them.

Artemis sweatdropped, exhausted of being surrounded by crazy girls blabbering about love and boys and dates and so on.

"Everyoneeeee!" He shouted to silence them. He cleared his throat and said "Thanks. Should we continue with duty and leave the teenage topics for later?"

"Yes, yes… let´s go to visit the Outers!" Minako proposed.

* * *

The five friends arrived a while later at the house where all the Outer Senshi lived together. The four of them had formed a quite unusual but happy family and lived in a pretty house surrounded by a small cozy garden in the outskirts of the city. They had not called before to say they were going, so they were wishing to find someone at home after the long way they had come.

Minako rang the doorbell and waited.

Fast little foosteps were heard, and the door opened to reveal a tiny pale girl in her early teens with big deep purple eyes that looked at them curiously.

"Usagi-chan!" She exclaimed, springing at Usagi and hugging her around the waist.

"Hello Hotaru-chan" Usagi responded smiling and tenderly hugging her back, happy to see the little senshi which was like a younger sister for her.

"Hotaru who´s at the door?" a huskier voice said from inside the house, and the girls saw Haruka appearing in the entrance, wearing a pair of beige trousers and an elegant loose white shirt which made her look masculine and mature.

"Hey! What a surprise! What are you all doing here?" Haruka said, walking towards the door.

"Hello Haruka-san" Minako responded acting like the group´s spokesperson "We wanted to talk to you girls if you had a minute…"

"Sure, come in please"

The numerous group followed Haruka inside the house. She guided them to the living room and offered them to seat, while she went to call Michiru and get some more chairs from somewhere, since there were not enough for everyone gathering there. The five girls sat down in the sofa and chairs, and Hotaru picked a cushion and sat on the floor beside Usagi.

"My… this must be a very special occasion, with all this sudden visiting!" Michiru commented while smiling when she entered the room, her yellow dress floating delicately around her when she moved.

Haruka appeared a minute later carrying two chairs, and placed them in front of their visitors. She then sat in one of them, next to Michiru who occupied the other one.

"So… what was it you all wanted to talk us about?" she said, looking at Usagi.

"Well…I´m afraid it´s not good news…" Usagi responded, and Haruka and Michiru´s faces turned serious. It was a matter of time that the inner senshi sensed something too, and apparently the time had come already. Nevertheless, they were not expecting at all what they heard afterwards.

"Usagi was attacked the other day" Minako said finally.

"WHAT?!" Haruka and Michiru said at the same time. Hotaru looked at Usagi preoccupied, but Usagi took her hand and smiled, to confort her.

"Koneko-chan… why didn´t you call us or tell us right away? Are you ok? Were you injured?" Haruka was really worried for her friend and princess.

"Don´t worry, I´m fine… I did not receive any harm. Seiya was with me. He was the one who got severely hit when he was protecting me"

Haruka frowned while intensely looking at Usagi, and Michiru couldn´t help letting a chuckle escape from her mouth when she saw her lover´s reaction.

"Him again…" Haruka grumbled in a low voice

"Is he ok?" Michiru asked

Usagi nodded silently and then said "He is now, but he went through a lot of pain… he was shot with some kind of ray that had poison in it"

When she heard this, Haruka´s expression relaxed a little. She may not be Seiya´s fan number one, but she had to admit that he was a great guy, and he was always there for Usagi, willing to take any risk for her and protect her no matter what. She admired that.

The girls told them about how the attack had occurred and how the enemies looked like, while the couple nodded every now and then, absorbing all the information they could and asked for more details. When they finished, Haruka and Michiru looked at each other silently, and Michiru nodded as if agreeing with her mate. It was incredible how they had the ability to communicate with one another just by exchanging glances.

"As a matter of fact…" Haruka started "We also have something to tell you"

The girls looked at them interrogatively. Michiru continued talking

"Setsuna contacted us and told us that she had felt something happening with the future, like… like some kind of disruption"

"Disruption?" Usagi asked, not understanding

"She means that some distortion or change has happened in the future. It has been altered somehow" Ami clarified

"That´s correct" Michiru continued "The fact is that she has sensed something going on, changes happening, but she cannot see anything. It´s as if the future had been hidden from her. Also, the same thing has happened with my Deep Aqua Mirror… it´s not showing any images at all"

"Well that´s… discomforting…" Ami said.

"And when did this happen?" Makoto asked

"More or less around the date when the Starlights arrived" Haruka responded

"Wait, are you saying that they have something to do with it? Or with the attack?" Usagi asked, feeling upset.

"Not necessarily, but it is indeed quite a coincidence. Let´s just say we are leaving all the possibilities open for the moment" Michiru responded "It´s not that it´s their fault, but maybe the enemy is coming after them and we have been caught in the middle, and are having to deal with it because of their presence in our planet…"

"That´s not like that! They attacked me, not Seiya! And he protected me at all costs, he could have been killed! And even if it was, we are going to help them with everything we have, like they helped us! Usagi cried

"Koneko-chan… please don´t be upset. We will help them if we can, but our first priority is your safety and our planet´s safety… that´s our duty" Haruka said

"Well if you care so much for my safety then we will all have to deal with this enemy, not depending on who he is here for… because I am going to fight together with the Starlights!" Usagi stated and crossed her arms.

"Koneko-chan…"

"Haruka-san… they are very dear friends to me, just the same as you girls are… This is my decision to make, and I choose to link my future to theirs, as I have done with you."

Haruka closed her eyes and leaned back on her chair while she let a big sigh out. She could not fight against such strong determination and she hated upsetting her kitten.

Sensing that her soulmate had surrendered to Usagi´s will, Michiru added

"Ok, you are right. We´ll cooperate in anything we can, as they have done before. Don´t worry Usagi-san" Michiru accepted, taking Haruka´s hand in hers. Usagi relaxed a little.

"Please call us if the enemy appears again, we will inform you if we have any news about the future visions" Michiru added

"I´m thinking about trying to perform a fire-reading to see if I can sense something…" Rei added

"Yes, that´s a good idea" she agreed "We´ll start surveillance right away, and will be aware if anything or anyone intends to approach Earth or makes any move here"

"Koneko-chan… please take care" Haruka said kindly to her dear friend, and looking at the rest of the team she added "Don´t leave her alone"

"We won´t" Minako promised


End file.
